Fallback
by IrethR
Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP
1. Man up

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter one: Man up**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Hi all! **

**Welcome to my first cross-over fic!**

**I'll be trying to upload this as often as I can. Having said that, I'm in college (which I'm trying to fast track, so that's double the workload), I tutor, have got a little bit of what still resembles a social life, and I've got two other WIPs up. Still, I'm excited about this cause these are my favourite fandoms and I love toying around with them ^^**

**So, enjoy reading and please let me know what you think about it, okay? :)**

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><p>It really shouldn't be frightening. It was just a building. Oblong, two floors, maybe an attic. The outside was a colour of pale yellow probably meant to reassure new people that it wasn't there to hurt them. Somehow though, the message didn't really seem to come through to Harry.<p>

Harry Potter, aged 18 years old, sat in his car staring up at the daunting building in front of him. He was valiantly trying to get a grip.

"Come on, Potter," he muttered to himself. "It's just a school, it shouldn't be scary."

But it was. The tall windows winked at him, trying to gain his trust. The doors swung open invitingly for each passing student. The football field's luscious green grass ruffled gently in the wind, begging him to run over it. The glaring red letters on the front wall of the school building declaring it to be William Mckinley High promised him a normal teenage life. And still it scared the bejeebus out of him.

He hadn't been to muggle school in so long. Ever since he got his Hogwarts letter in an abandoned cabin out in the stormy sea he hadn't looked back on his previously ordinary life even once. He had immersed himself into a world of magic, fairy tales and miracles. And then the war had happened.

While they had been looking for the missing pieces of Voldemort's soul, Hermione and he had come up with a back-up plan. A fall -back of sorts. If Hogwarts would fall and the magical world would crumble – _because_, Hermione had theorised, _the magical ley lines under the school formed the crux of Britain's magical population_- they'd go muggle. They wouldn't stay in a world where people would not know what to do with themselves if magic took a small break to rejuvenate itself. They'd leave.

It seemed easy, too. When the search for the horcruxes didn't go well Hermione had him and Ron study muggle school subjects. She, of course, had kept up with her muggle school studies in her summer holidays. With the combined force of Hermione's and Harry's knowledge even Ron had had basic knowledge of the muggle world and the school subjects given in it. He would have needed to be placed in Special Needs classes, but he'd manage.

Only Hogwarts didn't fall. The magical world didn't crumble. Instead, it cheered. It celebrated. The Greatest Evil of its time had been defeated, who wouldn't celebrate? Magical places that had been destroyed in the battles had been rebuilt, and people got on with their lives. For some, though, this was easier than for others.

Hermione and Ron decided to go back to Hogwarts for their final year of magical schooling. So did most of the DA. The teachers that had survived had started looking for new staff members. Harry had received a Hogwarts letter as well, on the eve of his eighteenth birthday, which he had spent at the Weasleys' (who had miraculously not lost any family members even though they were front and centre in the war).

He had thought long and hard about what he wanted to do. He could go back to school, could continue live as normal. He could get back in his school uniform, follow his classes and graduate a year later than planned. But something stopped him from doing just that. Truth be told, he didn't want to go back. Hogwarts had given him many happy times, this was true, but the times that stood out in his mind were the ones where he had to fight for his live.

Besides, if he were to go back he'd only be known as Harry Potter, the boy who had finally defeated Lord Voldemort. The Boy Who Lived. The Boy Who Conquered. The Boy Who Defeated He Who Must Not Be Named. Mister Fame. Mister Popular. Mister Way Too Many Names To Be Considered Healthy. And quite frankly, he was sick of that. He just wanted to be somewhere where he could be just Harry. Whoever the hell that was.

So here he was, in a small town in Nowhere, America. Hiding in a bright red Mini Cooper so he didn't have to go into the school building yet. And really, that was the last time he allowed Remus to pick a car. Terrible little thing, and oh so very stereotypically British. Typical Marauder humour.

Remus was at their home right now, still decorating and taking care of his son Teddy. He'd get a job eventually, but for now he would play stay at home dad so Teddy could settle in to a new environment. Besides, it would take time to find a reliable babysitter who wouldn't run away in terror if Teddy sneezed and accidentally changed his hair colour while doing so. It would take time to find someone that would actually believe it was a trick of the lighting andthat _yes, his hair has always been blue, are you only just now noticing? _

So yeah, Remus probably wouldn't go looking for a job till Teddy was old enough for High School. But that was alright really, since they had enough money to get on with for a good long while to come. Sirius' death three years previous, while terrible, had left them both well enough off to live for a lifetime or two, and Harry had enough money left to him by his parents as well. If they wanted to, neither one of them would have to work for the rest of their lives, but both of them wouldn't know what to do with themselves if they'd just stay at home.

So, Harry was finishing his muggle education so he could get a diploma and maybe even go to a muggle college of some sort. He had no idea yet what he wanted to make of his life after High School. He had done nothing but fight for the past seven years and had chosen his subjects at Hogwarts accordingly. While he had been good at them –with the exception of Potions- he hadn't necessarily loved them. He had to fight to survive and hadn't really looked at any other job possibilities than being an Auror.

_No time to think about that now though_, he thought as an annoying buzz sounded across the parking lot. _Time to man up and get your arse into that school building. Come on, are you a Gryffindor or what? Courage, Potter._

He got out of the car, slinging his old, trusty shoulder bag on his shoulder and locking the car behind him. People looked at him as he went past, but for once it wasn't because they recognised who he was. It was because they had absolutely no clue. A small grin managed to fight its way to his face. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. It's just school, right? What could possibly happen in muggle school? Merlin, he had been making an arse out of himself panicking over muggle school in his car. This wasn't so scary.

His thoughts came to a grinding halt after walking past a boy who was picking what looked suspiciously like day old vegetables from his jacket and passing a group of jocks who were talking about some guy.

"Hey, did you hear? Puckerman's getting released from Juvie!", one of them said to another, who looked to be somewhat in charge. He didn't look all the intelligent though, and the mullet in his neck was downright awful.

"After stealing that ATM? What'd he do to get out in only three weeks?"

"Dunno man," the first answered.

Harry quickly fastened his pace. Stealing an ATM? Juvenile Hall? He remembered when Dudley got sent there in the summer between fourth and fifth year. The diet aunt Petunia had had him on had driven him even more violent than he already had been and he'd stole some old lady's purse. And had managed to get chased down by her and hit over the head repeatedly with her walking stick. He was out of Juvenile Hall rather quick too, but Harry had always just assumed it was because he had probably been the laughing stock of the place and someone had taken pity on him or something.

_Okay, first thing's first,_ he thought to himself while entering the school building and ignoring curious looks from students, _find the headmaster's – no, that's 'principal' here- find the principal's office and get a schedule and directions. Second thing : Avoid that Puckerman guy. He sounds like trouble and that's the last thing I want right now. _

_Also: Try not to draw attention to yourself. Let's keep things nice and quiet._

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think?<strong>

**Till next time!**


	2. Tour Guide

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter two: Tour Guide**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Hi all! **

**I want to start by saying I'm just overwhelmed by the response so far! I've got about two hundred emails after posting the first chapter alone, that's insane! I want to thank you for your favourites, and alerts, and most of all your reviews! They really made my day. **

**For the person pointing me to my spelling mistakes in last chapter: thanks for that. That'll teach me to spell check at two AM, right? Thanks for noticing, but I can't really be arsed to change it right now. Maybe later. Having said that, English is not my first language and I don't have a beta, so there will probably be some more minor faults somewhere along the line.**

**Just to clear some things up: Remus, as you've noticed, is still alive for the basic reason that I didn't want him dead. Artistic license and all that. Same goes for Fred, though I don't think we'll see much of him or his twin here. Tonks bit the dust though.**

**Also, this takes place somewhere between 2x05 and 2x06. No Dalton or Blaine in sight yet. Yet.**

**In this chapter, Harry meets Puck. **

**Enjoy reading and please let me know what you think about it, okay? :)**

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><p>Finding the principal's office was a lot easier than Harry thought it would be. All he had to do was follow the sounds of a woman shouting. While he walked in the direction of the voice he saw students giving him warning glances, as if they were trying to tell him to save himself and run in the other direction as fast as he could. Too bad that Harry had never run away from possible danger before and he wasn't planning on starting now.<p>

The shouting, as it turned out, came from a very tall, blonde woman in a tracksuit. She was raging at an Indian- looking man behind a desk and her words pierced straight through the glass doors that surrounded them. Harry swallowed, praying that she wouldn't be the teacher for any of his subjects, and walked up to the secretary who was busy filing her nails like this was an everyday occurrence.

"Name?", she snippily asked after having deemed the nail of her right thumb – which Harry personally thought looked right ridiculous all covered in green and purple stars like that- perfect.

"Harry Potter," he answered. "I'm new here and I was supposed to meet with the principal to go over my file and transfer papers?"

She looked at him as if she doubted that very much.

"Are you sure?", she asked.

"Fairly sure," Harry answered, pulling a sheet of paper from his bag. "I've got the email detailing the meeting right here."

It wasn't really like him to have things like printed out emails with him. In fact, Harry would be the first to admit that he was one of the most disorganised people on the planet. He could never find anything and was always secretly relieved whenever Hermione would get him and Ron something for Christmas that would help them be more organised, no matter how much he groaned and claimed to hate them.

The reason he had the email with him today was simple. Remus had printed it out for him. As it turned out, Remus was a muggle enthusiast like Mr Weasley and had insisted on them getting both a computer and a laptop, a printer, television and muggle kitchen appliances. This wasn't because he was curious about them, but because he was used to them. Being a werewolf had severely limited his job options in the wizarding world and he had started working in the muggle world instead. Add that to the fact that Remus was a bit of an organisational nut, and you have an overly prepared Harry starting his first day of muggle high school.

The secretary snatched the paper from him hand and started looking it over like she didn't believe a word he was saying. She looked it over, made a few noises Harry suspected were meant to make her sound smarter but in reality only made her look like she knew less than he had previously assumed.

"Fine then," she finally said, before handing back the paper. Harry quickly slipped it back into his bag. "I'll let him know you're here. Take a seat next to Noah over there."

She motioned to the other side of the room, where Harry noticed a guy with a mohawk was sat. He didn't really seem like a Noah to Harry. The name somehow seemed too sweet for someone slouched in his seat like that, with a looked in his eyes that basically screamed not to get any closer if he wanted to keep all his fingers. Harry sat down next to him anyways.

After seeing the secretary go back to filing her nails and not making any attempt to notify the principal that he was there, Harry figured she didn't really want to come in between the screaming lady and the principal either. He cautiously leaned back in the uncomfortable seat against the wall, mindful of the shady looking guy next to him. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, the guy with the mohawk decided to speak:

"So, what are you in for?" he said, looking at Harry from the corner of his eyes.

"Just transferred here," Harry answered. "I'm supposed to go over my file with the principal, but he seems….busy."

The guy barked out a laugh. "Yeah, I suppose that's a word for it. Where'd you transfer from, short stuff?"

Harry balked a little at that. Sure, he wasn't exactly as tall as this guy, but he wasn't as short as he had been either. He'd never be able to reach the uttermost top shelves in the stores, but at least he didn't get mistaken for a twelve year old everywhere he went anymore.

"A school in Schotland," he answered shortly, not sure if he liked the guy next to him. Still, he was as curious as ever – something that had never failed to give Hermione miniature heart attacks every time he thought he saw something interesting during their school days- and asked:

"Why are _you_ here then?"

The boy shrugged. "Got back from an unintended vacation. Have to report back in."

Harry eyed him, not sure if there was even any truth in what the boy was saying, but willing to go with it for now. Before he could question the boy further though, the screaming in the office stopped, and his gaze was drawn to the glass walls. The woman looked as if she was panting heavily while the man looked smug. Harry guessed the principal must have won the shouting match. The woman walked out of the office and Harry instinctively tried to blend in with the chair he was sitting on.

"This isn't over yet, Figgins! I'll get that budget back!", she shouted over her shoulder before barrelling out of the front office, leaving Harry to look at her retreating back in awed fear.

"Meet coach Sylvester," the guy beside him said, "Some advice for you, new kid; stay out of her way."

"Funnily enough," Harry answered, getting up and walking to the office because the secretary was pointing at him with her nail file and gesturing him to go in, "I had figured that much myself."

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><p>After about fifteen minutes of the principal talking excitedly at him in an accent he had difficulty making out, Harry walked out of the office, pinching the bridge of his nose. It appeared that because the Hogwarts papers that had been heavily modified to appear muggle made him seem like some sort of genius while really, had had trouble keeping up with Hermione in even the easiest subjects she had forced down his and Ron's throats during the lulls in their quest for Voldemort's horcruxes. As a result, Harry had been automatically signed up for AP classes. Not just one or two, because he could have handled AP English and AP Home Ec. Or something, but all of them. He had been signed up for every single AP class that seemed to correspond well with the classes he had taken at Hogwarts. Basically, Harry was screwed. Ron was going to get a kick out of this.<p>

He walked up to the secretary, who by now has started flipping through a magazine with her nail file lying next to her on her desk like some sort of weapon, to get his class schedule from her. While she huffed and puffed her way through checking the computer and printing out the piece of paper, the guy he had sat beside earlier was being escorted out of the office by the principal, who walked up to the desk with him. Instead of addressing the secretary like he had expected though, the Indian man started speaking to Harry instead:

"Mr Potter. Mr Puckerman here will be your guide for the day, just until you know where everything is in the school."

Harry raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised at the offer, and not really believing that the boy with the mohawk would have offered to do such a thing. "Thank you, sir," he answered. "That's very kind of you."

The man nodded to him, nearly beaming, wished them a good day and disappeared back into his office. Harry was handed his class schedule and followed the boy out of the office, needing to walk faster than usual to be able to fall into step with him.

"So, thanks for doing this," he said to him, once had caught up.

"Yeah whatever, midget," the boy grunted. "What's your name anyways?"

"It's Harry," Harry answered. " And I'm not _that_ short."

"For a hobbit maybe," the boy snorted. "I'm Puck. Schedule?"

Harry decided not to argue any further since he really couldn't afford to alienate the guy that was showing him around. He handed Puck the schedule and watched him look it over.

"So your parents named you Puck Puckerman?" he asked, disbelievingly.

"Of course not," Puck scoffed, but didn't comment further. "Jesus, don't you have any normal classes?"

Harry just shrugged, still walking beside Puck. He was a bit surprised when they stopped at the nurse's office instead of at a classroom. He looked at Puck confusedly, and frowned when he was handed back his schedule.

"Why are we here?", he asked.

"Because I have math," Puck said, as if that was exactly what Harry should have been thinking al along. At Harry's look, he continued: "I don't do math. See you later, Stunt."

And with that, he closed the door to the office behind him, leaving Harry to stand in the hallway without knowing where he was supposed to go. He also felt like his height had just been insulted again, but he couldn't be sure.

"Jerk," he muttered to himself while looking around him. "Where am I supposed to go now?"

Before he could contemplate it any further though, a deep, annoying buzzing sound sounded through the building and the doors to the classrooms in the halls swung open, dozens of students suddenly crowding the halls and making Harry feel even more disorientated. He spun around, deciding to just start walking in one direction and ask someone for the way to his classroom.

Before he could even get to the other side of the hall however, something icy splattered around his shins. He instinctively looked down and noticed that his shoes were covered in what seemed to be some sort of blue icy substance. He made a step forward and felt how his feet nearly stuck to the floor. A sticky blue icy substance then. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see a guy- who he was pretty sure was the same guy he had noticed picking rotten vegetables from his jacket- stomp to what he assumed to be a bathroom, entirely covered in the blue gunk.

Harry looked down again, walking forward down the hall. His shoes made a squelching sound with each step. So far today he had been placed in classes that were way too hard for him, lost his unconventional tour guide and had his shoes and the undersides of his jeans covered in blue gunk. He sighed to himself. And it was still only half past nine.

"Just bloody perfect," he muttered.

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think?<strong>

**Till next time!**


	3. A Real Guide

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter three: A Real Guide**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: (oops, forgot to do this) Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is.**

**Hiya! Another chapter of Fall- back (I'm not really sure I like how FF automatically made it into Fallback in the title, but I can't change it…ah well)! And faster than the last, I think. Right? Pretty sure. I'm terrible with keeping my days apart in my head. **

**Oh! PM question (Yes, feel free to PM me whenever you want to) I'll respond to here: I **_**do**_** have a tumblr account. It's klainingperfect(.)tumblr(.)com Feel free to look me up if you want to. If I post a oneshot (usually fluff or smut) I usually post it there first.**

**Anyhoo, thanks again for the response, which has all been positive so far! You guys are awesome.**

**Question though: When I click on my story, the review number says '13', even though I know it should either be '17' or '18'. When you click on the number though, it shows all of them, as it should. Does anyone know why this is?**

**So, we see Artie and Rachel this chapter ^^ Fun. Enjoy reading!**

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><p>It hadn't taken Harry very long to find the classroom he was supposed to be in. It also hadn't taken Harry very long to find out that McKinley's educational system sucked big time. The teacher had taken one look at him, put him in a seat in the front- next to some guy in a wheelchair-, had greeted the class, given them a few sheets of papers covered in questions, and left. The teacher had left. Just like that. Harry turned to his neighbour.<p>

"Is he serious?" he asked disbelievingly. The boy next to him ( Who was wearing the most ridiculous outfit Harry had ever seen. A bowtie _and _suspenders? Really?) looked at him as if he was surprised to be spoken to, even though the rest of the class had started chatting away the second the teacher had closed the door behind him.

"Mr Collins? Oh yeah, dead serious. I'm betting he won't be coming back, either," he answered Harry, looking at him curiously. "Nice accent, by the way. Where are you from?"

"Surry, England," Harry replied. "Went to school up in Scotland though. I'm Harry."

"Artie," the boy replied, shaking the hand Harry had extended to him with one of his own gloved hands.

A few moments of silence passed in which Harry looked at his papers with disbelief still etched in his face and Artie calmly started answering the questions on the papers in front of him.

"So, why are you here and not in England?" Artie suddenly asked, scribbling away on the papers.

Harry shrugged, deciding he might as well start answering the questions as well, and answered while skimming over the questions: "I decided to graduate from an American high school as well, to broaden the range of universities I can apply to."

A complete lie, of course. You could very well apply to American colleges and universities with a British secondary school diploma or A-levels. He counted on Artie not knowing this though, and added:

"Didn't realise the educational system here was shit, though. What kind of teacher just leaves instead of teaching?"

Artie snorted. "I hear you, dude. Self- study is key here."

Harry tried to supress a groan. The one thing Hermione had always hammered on him and Ron for; self- study. Coincidentally something he really, really hated. He had always been more of a hands- on sort of learner. Somehow he doubted that he'd get many practical classes here.

Artie looked away from his papers to look at him.

"Do you know your way around yet?", he asked.

"Not quite," Harry answered tartly. "I had a tour guide but he bailed on me before he even pointed me to this classroom."

Artie made a face. "That sucks man. I can show you around if you'd like?"

He asked his question very carefully, as if expecting to be shot down immediately. Harry , on the other hand, couldn't believe his luck. From his short walkthrough of the building he had noticed that it wasn't very large – certainly not as large as Hogwarts- but that it was still quite easy to lose your way in, since every single hallway you walked in looked exactly like the last.

"That would be brilliant," he answered with a grin. "This building confuses the hell out of me."

Artie grinned back. "Cool."

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><p>As it turned out, all Harry had needed was a proper tour guide of the building to be able to find his way around himself. Another thing Harry found out was that Artie was quite funny when he wanted to be.<p>

"_The cafeteria. Bring your own food if you want to be sure you'll live to see tomorrow. If you're feeling daring though, just stick with the soup. Highest chance of survival."_

_._

"_The school trophy case. Pretty damn empty. Feel free to mock."_

.

"_Home ec. You in Home ec.?"_

"…_yeah?"_

"_Awesome. You'll bake muffins. My favourite are blueberry, fyi."_

"_Noted."_

.

"_The choir room. Here's where all the cool people hang."_

"_Who are they, then?"_

"_Glee club."_

"…_.no offense, Artie, but-"_

"_Yeah, I know. Doesn't sound cool. We're not, really."_

"_Then why-"_

"_I like to kid myself sometimes."_

.

"_Oh, there's your locker. A high one. Lucky you."_

"_What's wrong with a low one? "_

"_When someone drops their drink, it splashes between the grooves. I cello- wrap my books."_

"_Ah."_

.

"_Aaaand here's your next class. AP Latin, huh?"_

"_Yup."_

"_Didn't even know we had Latin here."_

.

With that, and a promise to join him for lunch, Harry had let Artie go his own way and had entered his classroom. It wasn't really a surprise that Artie didn't know there was a Latin class at McKinley. Counting Harry, there were only three students in the room. One of them was a grungy looking kid who smelled as if he hadn't taken a shower in months and appeared to actually be asleep, the other was an excitable looking girl with big brown eyes and long brown hair that reminded Harry of Hermione for a brief moment. And then she opened her mouth.

"Hi! You must be the new kid! It's great to see another student interested in the ancient language that is Latin. I won't really use it in the future, since I'm going to make it big on Broadway and be a star and all that, but it's always nice to know I could get into a medical profession with this knowledge as a back-up plan, of course! My dads always tell me it's extremely important to have a back- up plan, and I'm inclined to agree. What if my voice gives out or I have a terrible accident that will leave me all disfigured and ugly? Oh, where are my manners? I'm Rachel. Rachel Berry. And you are?"

Harry's initial thoughts about her were way of. The only way this girl could possibly still remind him of Hermione was if Hermione would take speed and grow an attitude. Both of which were highly unlikely.

"Harry Potter," he hesitatingly answered, not sure if it was really safe to take the seat next to her she was excitedly gesturing at. "Nice to meet you?"

"Pleased to meet you, too," she beamed at him, before practically manhandling him into the chair.

Harry sat down, and took out his notebook, a pen, and the day planner Hermione had nearly thrown at him while he was packing (_"Remember Harry, it's all in the planning!"_) and placed them on his table, trying to avoid the excited brown eyes he knew were aimed at the side of his face. He was saved from looking at her again by the teacher walking in. Unfortunately for Harry, the teacher barely acknowledged they were there, handed out stacks of papers much the same as the ones he had been filling in with Artie the previous hour, instructed them to complete the exercises on them, and began reading the _Lima Gazette_ at his desk.

Rachel began babbling excitedly at him again, and Harry started to wonder if her mood- switch was just stuck on that emotion. She started talking at him about the exercises and Harry glanced at the boy in the back from the corner of his eyes. Rachel caught his glance and said:

"Oh, that's Brett. Don't worry about including him. He'll wake up ten minutes till time, finish the exercises and ace them, too. He's scary smart. Are you smart, Harry?"

Harry shrugged, never having really considered himself smart but also never having considered himself dumb.

"I do okay, I guess," he answered diplomatically.

She narrowed her eyes a bit and snatched the schedule he had stuffed in his day planner from out of it to look it over. Her gleaming eyes looked back at him after quickly scanning the page and Harry felt a small shiver run down his spine.

"I have decided you're going to be my partner in every group project we'll get assigned this year," she stated, very matter- of – factly.

Harry gulped. How on earth was he going to shake this girl?

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><p><strong>I'm amused by the thought of stoner Brett being wicked smart. Anyone else?<strong>

**Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought of it?**

**Till next time!**


	4. First Day Lunch

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter four: First Day Lunch**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**Hi all!**

**Wow, I can't believe the amount of reviews and favourites and alerts you guys keep bestowing on this story! I love you guys, seriously!**

**Here's the next chapter. Enjoy and stay tuned for the AN at the bottom! ^^**

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><p>Harry had a hard time shaking the persistent girl from his AP Latin class. She was everywhere he turned: By his side while leaving the class, happily skipping next to him on the way to the next – which they shared as well-, and outside of the bathroom when he came out. Now, on the way to lunch, she had managed to glue herself to his side again, chattering away about some Broadway actress he had never heard of before.<p>

Right before entering the cafeteria he somewhat forcibly removed her arm from where it was hooked through his –_and how on earth had she managed to do that without him noticing?_- and stopped her from going any further with her absolutely _riveting_ tale.

"Look, Rachel, I'm sorry," he started, "but I promised my tour guide I'd sit with him at lunch."

Her face fell for a brief moment before lighting up again.

"That's alright," she beamed. "I'll just see you in AP English, then."

With that she turned around and strode into the cafeteria confidently. Harry watched her back in horror. She was in his English class as well? He had a feeling it was going to be a long day. He leaned against the wall next to the cafeteria door and started waiting for Artie to arrive. Meanwhile he started to idly wonder about Rachel.

At first, he had thought of her as being close in character to Hermione. That thought had faded quickly, though. Hermione wasn't as clingy, or as eager to talk about anything that wasn't about academics. Hermione didn't beam at him near as much as Rachel did and he's pretty sure Hermione doesn't know the first thing about Broadway.

Maybe Rachel was a bit more like Lavender Brown. He remembered seeing Lavender belt out songs from _RENT_ on more than one occasion, and he knew she was smarter then she pretended to be most of the time. She was also especially clingy, as the entire school had been able to witness when she had started dating Ron. Just as Harry started thinking about whether Rachel had a boyfriend and if she gave him hideous gifts and called him by a ridiculous nickname, Artie rolled up.

"There you are. Thanks for waiting, dude," the wheelchair- bound boy said.

"No problem," Harry answered him. "Shall we go in?"

"Yeah dude," Artie answered. "I'm starving. How were your classes?"

Harry shrugged, holding the door open for Artie. "Okay, I suppose. Different from what I'm used to, that's for sure."

Artie grinned at him from over his shoulder, somehow managing to move his wheelchair forward in the right direction at the same time. "Any more teachers bail?"

"The one in Latin read a newspaper and the one in World History left to take a call and never came back," Harry answered, his disdain for the system clearly present in his voice.

Artie chuckled a bit, lifting his tray so the lunch lady could place his food on it. Harry followed his example.

"Yeah, that's McKinley for you," Artie belatedly answered, rolling forward to pay for his lunch with Harry on his…wheels. They paid for their meals (Harry sticking to Artie's earlier advice and sticking to soup) and Artie looked out over the room, as if searching for someone.

"Oh, there they are!" he exclaimed, turning to look at Harry again. "Do you mind sitting with my friends for today?"

"Course not," Harry shrugged. "It's not like I really know people here yet."

Artie beamed at him and started rolling forward to a table, his tray balancing on his lap. Harry followed him to a table with a rather peculiar assortment of people. He spotted two cheerleaders, a pretty blonde, a guy with obviously dyed blonde hair, an Asian couple attached at the lips, a dark skinned girl, a rather fashionable looking boy –_and hey, isn't that the guy that had blue gunk dripping from his face earlier?_- , a pretty…big girl, and Puck.

The latter looked up as they arrived at the table, his eyebrows raising to his near non-existent hairline. As Artie introduced Harry, the boy himself was a bit busy staring the mohawked boy down. After a few seconds, Artie stopped talking and looked between the two.

"You two know each other or something?"

Harry raised an eyebrow, his eyes not leaving Puck's. "He's the guide that ditched me."

There were a few groans around the table. Artie made an understanding face and Harry was pretty sure he heard one of the cheerleaders mutter a 'Way to welcome the new kid, Puckerman'. Harry kept staring at Puck until he snapped.

"Look, I'm sorry okay. I'll even give you a tour after lunch. _Just stop staring at me._"

Harry stopped staring, looking rather pleased.

"No, thanks. I've found myself a better model to guide me around," he said, and patted Artie on the shoulder before finally sitting down beside the dark skinned girl. Artie preened, while the girl next to Harry snorted and offered her hand.

"Nice one, white boy. I'm Mercedes," she said, fighting to keep the grin from her face. Harry took her hand, gently shaking it.

"Nice to meet you, Mercedes," he answered her. "I'm Harry."

She grinned. "I know, Artie told us while you were busy intimidating Puck."

"Yeah," the Latina cheerleader cut in. "Pretty impressive for a midget. Hot, too. I'm Santana."

Harry looked at her with slightly widened eyes. What was it with people obsessing over his height anyway? He really wasn't _that_ short. Also, he was pretty sure he had just been hit on a bit. Not that he had much experience with that. After all, he had only ever really dated Ginny (he preferred not to think about the Cho disaster –as Ron had dubbed it- too much), so he was still pretty green when it came to stuff like that. He muttered a 'charmed', and started twirling his spoon through his soup.

"So, no offence meant or anything," he started speaking, not really looking anyone in the eye, "but you seem like an unlikely bunch to sit together."

The Asian couple detached their lips for long enough that the girl could speak.

"I know it's weird," she said in a bubbly voice, "but we're all in Glee together, so we kind of group together whenever we can."

Harry nodded as if he understood the importance of banding together as a glee club.

"Oh, alright," he said. "So, is this the entire club then?"

"No," the pretty blonde girl said with a look of distaste on her face. "Finn's probably off somewhere snogging his hobbit. They're both in the club too."

"Actually," the brunette boy next to Mercedes said, "There they are. _Oh my God, what is she wearing now?_"

Mercedes snickered and Harry leaned forward a little to catch sight of a fairly tall (Oh, who was he kidding? That boy was gigantic compared to him) boy walking towards them with his arm around no one other than Rachel Berry, the girl he had thought he had finally managed to shake off. He groaned and tried to make himself as invisible as possible while not using magic. Artie looked at him funny.

"That girl scares the daylights out of me," Harry said to him in an undertone.

Artie snorted. "Yeah, she has that effect on people."

Unfortunately, Artie was not the only one to have caught his comment as Mercedes and the boy besides her both burst out laughing as well, while the Latina cheerleader looked at him appreciatively.

"I think I might grow to like you, Short Stuff," she drawled, before linking her pinkies with the blonde cheerleader next to her and getting up to leave the table just before a manically waving Rachel and Finn got there.

Harry wasn't really sure how to feel about that.

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><p><strong>AN: Time for a little contest! <strong>

_**One McKinley student knows **__**exactly**__**who Harry Potter is.**_

**I want to see who can already guess this! Be creative in your reasoning. Winner gets a one shot in either the HP verse, Glee verse or HP/Glee verse of a subject by choice, to be posted around the same time I reveal who it is in this story.**

**Interested? Leave your guess and reasoning in a review or PM (or message me on tumblr). I'll PM you if you were correct or not!**

**-Let me know what you thought of the chapter?**

**-Till next time!**


	5. A Meeting in Madness

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter five: A Meeting in Madness**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all!**

**Omigosh, you guys! I can't believe the response to last chapter and the little contest. You guys rock, seriously. Having said that, we do have a winner ^^ I'm not going to say who yet – cause I know people are sneaky and will try and see who this person guessed-, but I have alerted them, and I'll say who it was when I reveal the character in the story. Not this chapter, maybe the next. Probably the one after that, though.**

**Oh, and a response to all the people guessing Blaine…. Guys, I said in the AN in either the first or second chapter that this story started between 2x05 and 2x06, so we haven't met Blaine yet. Emphasis on yet. He'll be here. But still, he's not in the story yet, and certainly not a person at McKinley, since he's a student at Dalton... Keep your eyes peeled for when he does show though^^**

**This chapter is a bit longer than usual… yay^^**

**So, having abused my AN more than I probably should, it's time to get on with the story^^ Enjoy and please let me know your thoughts?**

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><p>The first thing Harry did when he came home that afternoon was fling himself face first onto the couch in the living room. He contemplated just lying there till dinner. Then he realised that would be impossible, since he actually had to cook dinner. Remus couldn't be trusted in the kitchen. No matter how great the werewolf was at potions (and Harry was immensely grateful to him for coaching him through his NEWT), he couldn't even make a grilled cheese sandwich without burning it. Harry had banned him from doing anything more than pouring drinks and chopping up lettuce after having found that out.<p>

Okay, so maybe not till dinner. But no- one said he couldn't lie there for at least another hour. The couch was comfy. Just soft enough, and it still had that smell furniture had when you just bought it. He inhaled deeply and nearly choked on the fabric as it came up a little. Didn't matter. The couch was soft and comfy, and he was going to spend the next hour just lying there.

"Unca?"

Or maybe not. Harry peeled one of his eyes open –_and when had he closed those anyway?-_ and turned his head a little to look at his godson. Teddy was sitting on his knees in front of the couch, holding on to the edge with his small hands.

"Hiya Teddy," Harry muttered, mouth still buried in the fabric of the couch. "What is it?"

The little boy grinned up at him, a single tooth prominently on display. The sight of it never failed to make Harry grin. Remus on the other hand, tended to panic a bit. When they had first noticed the tooth growing he had started to question whether Teddy was early teething, or if he was late, and if it hurt (_Harry was pretty sure it had to hurt, judging by all the crying Teddy was doing at the time_) and if they could do anything to stop the process. He did that whenever Teddy showed signs of growing though. When he had started crawling, Remus had installed childproof locks on all the cabinets and doors in the house and had run after the child with his arms waving madly about whenever he started crawling somewhere.

"Up!", Teddy demanded, still grinning and with his little arms raised hopefully. Harry grinned back at him and reached over the couch edge to pick him up, turning himself around to lie on his back at the same time. Teddy snuggled into his chest, muttering another 'unca', before closing his eyes and seemingly going to sleep.

"I still can't believe he calls you that," Harry heard Remus say, and he lifted his head up a bit so that he could see him standing in the doorway, leaning against one side. Harry snorted.

"You're just still sore his first word was 'unca' and not 'dada'," he answered. Remus mock- glared at him.

"No, I got over that. I'd be more concerned if he had actually called you 'dada' instead of 'unca'."

Harry couldn't help but concede the point. While he loved being Teddy's godfather and being seen as his unofficial uncle (_though with all the interbreeding the pureblood families did, he was pretty sure he was related to Teddy in some way_), he wasn't quite ready to be a dad yet. Certainly not this early, at eighteen. Also, he'd prefer to have a partner before even thinking of having children.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he glanced at the clock. It was later than he had thought it would be. Didn't matter, he was not moving from his comfortable spot just yet.

"So, how was your day?", he asked instead as Remus sat down on the loveseat.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You just had your first day of muggle high school."

Harry shrugged. "I asked first."

"You're right at that," Remus answered. "Let's see. I went grocery shopping today. Got some weird looks doing it though. Have people never moved here before or something? It was like they'd never seen a foreigner before."

"It's not exactly a big town," Harry reasoned, "Chances are they haven't."

"Right," Remus nodded. "And that was it really. Cleaned the house some and made sure Teddy didn't crawl anywhere he's not supposed to. Now, let's hear about your day."

Before Harry could answer him, he noticed Teddy's hair shift colours on his chest. He looked down at the now bright- green haired toddler, then back up at Remus, who had noticed it as well.

"We really need to think of something for that in case we have company over."

Harry nodded.

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><p>The next morning Harry woke up slowly. Never having been a morning person he put on some house slippers and stumbled his way downstairs. He passed through the kitchen without even noticing Remus feeding Teddy his breakfast and ambled straight on to the tea kettle. Giving a little groan of relief at finding it to be hot already, he quickly grabbed a mug and poured the tea. A tired chuckle from behind him made him turn.<p>

"Morning, Remus," he muttered, giving Teddy a little wave. Teddy returned it, waving his arms around excitedly and causing the food Remus had been trying to feed him to fly around. Remus looked at Harry with a look that basically screamed '_You have got to be kidding me_' and Harry just returned it with an innocent smile. This was part of their everyday morning routine. Once Remus had cleared away the mess with a flick of his wand, he asked:

"What classes do you have today?"

Harry shrugged, not having a clue. Remus looked at him through narrowed eyes and pointed at the fridge. Sure enough, the man had printed out a copy of Harry's schedule, already anticipating Harry to lose his. Harry wondered why Remus hadn't just looked at it himself instead of asking the question, but walked over to the fridge anyway. And groaned.

"Two study blocks, gym, AP French and Home Ec.," he answered. Remus snorted behind him. So the bastard _had_ already looked at the schedule and just wanted to see the look on his face. Not fair.

"Yup," Remus grinned at him. "And you've got about twenty minutes left to get dressed and drive to school. I suggest you start now."

Harry glanced at the clock above the fridge and sighed at what he saw. Remus was right, unfortunately. He clucked back his last two sips of tea, put the mug in the dishwasher and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl -Teddy looking at him accusingly because that was his favourite fruit- before taking the stairs two steps at a time. Time to start another day.

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><p>Harry had forgotten how rowdy boys could get in the dressing room after gym class. Towels were flying around, names were called, and more than one body hit a locker. Harry tried to dress quickly to escape the madness of it all, but was surprised to find that while he was still struggling with his socks –<em>and when had Ron found the time to smuggle some Cannons- socks into his suitcase anyway?-<em> everyone else had already left. Harry shrugged and decided to just take his time.

He was still working on tying his shoelaces together when someone entered the dressing room from the gym hall. Harry instinctively looked up and let his eyes fall on the form of the boy he vaguely recalled sitting next to Mercedes at lunch the day before. Something about blue gunk, too. Huh.

"Hi," Harry said. "You might want to get a move on, class will start in about twenty minutes, I think."

The boy looked at him confusedly. "Yeah, I will," he said, before seemingly having an epiphany.

"Oh, hey," he said, "Now I remember. You're Harry right? Artie introduced you."

"Yeah," Harry answered, tying the laces of the second shoe before getting up and reaching out a hand, "I am. I don't think I caught your name yesterday, though."

The boy , still in his gym uniform for some reason, looked at the hand warily for a few seconds before gingerly shaking it.

"I'm Kurt," the boy –Kurt- said, before letting go. He smiled a little. "What are you still doing here?"

Harry shrugged, walking back to the bench he had sat on a bit to sloppily fold his gym clothes so he could throw them in his bag later.

"I'm a bit slow compared to the rest, I suppose," he answered. "What about you? You haven't even started changing yet. Did the coach want something from you or something?"

Kurt looked at him as if he were crazy. "I always stay back a bit. The boys prefer it when I change after they've gone."

Harry furrowed his eyebrow, not looking at Kurt but focussing on getting his shirt folded straight before giving up.

"Why?", he asked. "It's not like you carry a terrible stench with you or something."

Kurt let out a surprised snort and Harry looked up to find that the boy had moved to a shower cubicle and had somehow gotten undressed while Harry had his back turned.

"You're damn right I don't," Kurt answered while turning on the shower. "It's them that smell like they've been bathing in garbage for three days straight."

Harry chuckled, throwing his gym clothes in his bag while Kurt showered.

"I did catch a whiff of that, yeah," he said. "Why then?"

Kurt turned off the shower and Harry politely averted his eyes so that he could towel off and change into some underwear.

"You seriously don't see why?", Kurt asked, prompting Harry to look up again to see him dressed in a pair of incredibly tight black pants. Harry shrugged.

"No," he slowly answered. "Should I?"

Kurt slipped on a shirt that looked way too complicated to actually be called a shirt before answering him.

"I'm gay. They prefer that I stay out of their way whenever possible. Especially when they're getting changed."

Harry chuckled. "Why, cause they're all such _lookers_? That's ridiculous."

Kurt laughed with him in surprise, lacing up a pair of black boots. "So, it doesn't bother you?"

"Not at all," Harry answered. And truly, he didn't. He spent six years sleeping in the same dorm as Seamus, after all. The Irish boy had started hitting on anything with two legs when he came back from the summer holidays in third year. Including Harry and a very distraught Ron.

Kurt slung his bag over his shoulder, causing Harry to stand up and do the same. The taller boy smiled at him.

"That's great," he said. "Most people here aren't as accepting."

Harry shrugged, following him out the door. "Most people are idiots."

Kurt chuckled. "True."

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><p>AP French had been a bust. Harry didn't understand how he ever got into the class. He was terrible. Hermione had tried teaching him, as had Fleur, but he had never been able to get past introducing himself and asking for directions. And hey, that was fine by him. Too bad for him, though, that the French teacher turned out to be one of the very few at McKinley that actually stayed with the class and set them to work ….and actually walked around to check on progress. So yeah, he was screwed.<p>

Home Ec. was a breeze though. The teacher had told them that they couldn't do what had been on their schedule for the day due to some damage to some fancy kitchen equipment Harry had never heard of before and as such they were free to bake something. Anything. As long as she could have a piece.

Kurt had sat down beside him at his workbench with his ingredients and was busy whipping up something that looked much too healthy for Harry's tastes. He himself was busy making the yummiest thing he could think of: Triple chocolate muffins with a toffee chocolate fudgy centre. The kind that can give you cavities just by looking at them. It was one of the first things he had ever learned to bake at the Dursley's, and he still made them regularly (though mostly because Remus claimed to be addicted to them and would stoop so low as to fake withdrawal symptoms to get Harry to bake them) .

When their baking time was up, both Kurt and Harry had a small tray with ten muffins on it in front of them. Harry's was filled with ten perfect muffins he affectionately called 'Death By Chocolate', while Kurt's overly healthy ingredients had turned into quite yummy looking muffins as well. They looked at each other as their teacher started doing her final rounds and wordlessly traded a muffin. Surprisingly enough, Kurt's muffins actually tasted really good, if a little dry. Harry looked over to see what Kurt though about his muffin only to see Kurt sitting with his eyes closed and a blissed out expression on his face, holding the remaining half of the muffin in his hand.

"….Kurt?", Harry hesitatingly asked. Kurt's eyes shot open.

"Harry! Oh my God, this muffin is amazing! How did you get the filling so fudge- like? It always hardens when I try to do something like that."

Before Harry could answer, Kurt took another big bite and swallowed it quickly.

"Never mind, don't answer that. Darn, this is heavenly."

He happily finished the muffin while Harry looked at him in astonishment, having figured Kurt wouldn't be one to be so boisterous. He shrugged.

"I could show you, if you'd like?" he offered, not really sure if that would be a wise idea.

Kurt looked up at him again, a bit of chocolate in the corner of his mouth. "Really?"

"Yeah, sure," Harry answered, missing the way Kurt's face lit up. "You can come over sometime and we'll bake."

"I'd like that," Kurt answered softly. "How about today? You teach me to bake these muffins and I help you with French?"

Harry winced. "Caught that, huh?"

"Yeah," Kurt smirked at him. "You kind of suck."

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><p><strong>Well, that's it for this time! I hope you enjoyed reading it. Let me know what you thought about it?<strong>

**Till next time!**

**-Robin.**


	6. Muffin Methods

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter six: Muffin Methods**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all!**

… **I know. I suck. I'm sorry it took so long. The Christmas and New Year's weeks have been crazy. Family visits, birthdays, parties. It's safe to say I'm kinda sick of seeing my family by now. Of course, there was and awesome New Year's party at my best friend's place as well, so that rocked. I hope you all had a good Christmas and I wish you all a belated happy New Year! **

**But still; thanks again for all the reviews and alerts and favourits and such! I loved every single one of them; especially the one that explained how Harry and Teddy are related, that one made me grin all the way to work, so thanks!**

**Enjoy the chapter! More AN at the bottom.**

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><p>It took Harry until halfway through his journey home (unaccompanied by Kurt, who had the Glee thing Artie had mentioned during his tour after school) to realise what he had done. He had invited Kurt over to his house. After school. Today. Which meant that Kurt would be standing on his front porch in about an hour and a half and he wasn't even close to ready for that. It wasn't that he was worried about the way he looked, or about how the house was decorated (okay, maybe he was a little worried about that, but that was only because Luna had helped pick out the furniture), or something inconsequential like that.<p>

Harry was worried about what Kurt would see there. He stepped on the gas pedal a little more. The house was filled with magical things that Remus and he had refused to leave behind when they left Britain. The portrait above the fireplace moved, the rug had a tendency of lifting a few feet in the air every now and then and the dishwasher had been affected by the ambient magic swirling through the house and had started complaining whenever it didn't have anything to do. It was annoyingly chipper when doing its dishwashing duties, too. And- _oh dear lord. _Teddy.

Sweet little Teddy with his glorious chuckle. And his ever- changing hair and eye colours. Remus and he still hadn't found anything to cover up the continuous changes in the little boy. They really needed to think up something for that. Preferably in the next…. one hour and fifteen minutes. Crap. Harry drove just a little bit faster still, determined to hide all evidence of magic before Kurt got there.

When he reached the house, he sloppily parked his car in the driveway, hopped out of the terribly coloured mini Cooper and sprinted to the door. He fumbled with his keys for a second before nearly falling into the house when the door opened. He threw his backpack on the cabinet in the hallway and walked into the living room area, calling for Remus, who appeared after a few seconds, looking frazzled.

"What's going on?" he asked, shifting Teddy – who he had been carrying on his hip – a little higher.

"Kurt's coming over," Harry answered, hastily taking a vase with softly singing flowers from out the windowsill and looking around him for a place to hide them.

"Okay," Remus said, dragging the word out a bit. "Who is Kurt and why is he coming over?"

"We share a few classes," Harry explained while still trying to find a place to hide the flowers (who had started humming a rather morbid tune at this point), "He's coming over to help me with French and I'm teaching him how to make those chocolate muffins you like."

Remus' face changed instantly from confusion to giddy anticipation.

"Why didn't you just say so? Let's get this house Muggle- friendly, shall we?"

Harry fought hard to stop the eyeroll waiting to burst out. "Yes, Remus, that's pretty much what I'm attempting to do here. Have you found anything to fix Teddy's hair with yet?"

"Not quite," Remus admitted, glancing down at Teddy's lime green locks. "Though I have managed to figure out that the longer he stares at a colour, the more likely it is that that colour will be his next hair colour."

Harry bit his lip. " So what are you suggesting, that we make him look at a dark brown bedframe for the next hour?"

"It's worth a shot, I suppose," Remus answered, though he seemed to doubt it, "But I think it might only work with colours he really likes. I caught him staring at the bathroom sink yesterday, and his hair has yet to turn white."

A small groan escaped Harry's throat.

"Oh, that's just brilliant. Do you think you can figure something out quick, or else have Teddy upstairs when Kurt's here?"

Remus nodded, assuring Harry just the tiniest bit, and took the toddler upstairs with him. Harry, vowing to either write or floo Hermione that evening, set to work downstairs. He hid the flowers in the garden, picking a few daisies to put in a vase instead. He cast a charm on the painting above the fireplace to stop it from moving, after having asked for permission from the people that were depicted (there was nothing more annoying than a grumpy portrait making disapproving noises at you whenever you were near) and cancelled the levitation charm on the carpet, which floated down morosely.

After apologising to the carpet (and feeling like a ruddy fool for doing so), Harry made his way into the kitchen, knowing Kurt would be there in about fifteen minutes. He started getting out bowls and ingredients, figuring it would be way better to have chocolate muffins during their studying of French than to have to study French while wanting chocolate muffins, while trying to talk the dishwasher out of talking for the time Kurt would be there.

"- and I promise that when we're finished, I'll give you plenty of chocolate covered bowls and plates to clean, okay? But you need to promise to be silent when you clean them, okay?"

Thankfully, Harry was saved from questioning his sanity any further than he already was by the sound of the doorbell ringing. He glanced at the clock. Right on time, just like Harry had figured Kurt would be. He didn't seem like the kind of guy to be late for _anything_. He made his way to the front hall, immediately noticing Kurt behind the glass in the door.

"Kurt, hi!", he said after swinging the door open.

"Hi, Harry," the boy answered, smiling the same hesitant smile Harry had spotted on him in the locker room earlier that day. "I didn't realise you live so close to me."

Harry raised an eyebrow, gesturing at Kurt to step inside, which he did. "Oh? Where do you live then?"

"A block over," Kurt answered, shrugging out of his jacket (_and wasn't he wearing something else entirely during school?_) and handing it on the coat rack. Harry showed him into the house proper, studying Kurt's face as he took in the furniture and how it was decorated.

"Your house is lovely," Kurt eventually seemed to settle on saying, even though Harry was sure that probably wasn't his first choice of words. He laughed.

"It's alright, I know it's decorated horribly. We let a friend do the decorating, but we forgot how eccentric she could be," he said. Kurt deflated a little.

"I didn't want to say anything…." the chestnut- haired boy said a bit awkwardly.

"And that's very polite of you, but completely unnecessary," Harry told him with a smile. Kurt smiled back at him, relieved.

"Okay, good to know," he said, before showing Harry the bag he'd been carrying, most likely holding a pile of French books. "So, where are we starting, muffins or French?"

"Muffins, I thought," Harry answered, leading the way into the kitchen. "I figured that if I had to endure French, I might as well have sugar in me during."

This shocked a short laugh out of Kurt, bringing a small smile to his face. They entered the kitchen and Harry told Kurt to just leave his bag by the table somewhere. Kurt did as such and Harry handed him an apron when he turned back to face him. Kurt raised an eyebrow at him and Harry shrugged at him.

"Figured you wouldn't want to spill anything on those clothes. They look pretty expensive."

"They are," Kurt said, eyebrow dropping again and taking the apron. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Harry replied before gesturing towards the kitchen counter, shooting a quick glance at the dishwasher, which was silent for the time being. "Shall we get to work then?"

Kurt grinned. "Let's."

They set to work after that, both mixing in their own bowls, so that there would be two batches of muffins. When Kurt asked about that, Harry sheepishly explained that he liked to keep a batch around the house for when his guardian got into a frenzy when his son did something new he hadn't seen yet again. He also explained that they'd probably be gone by the time he went to sleep that night.

They worked in a near silent state, but it wasn't award for some reason. Kurt offered the occasional snarky remark to the songs played on the radio (Harry was extremely glad to have remembered to switch it to a Muggle channel) and even hummed along to some. Harry gave quiet instructions as to which ingredient went in the batter when and how he should mix them. He was content to listen to Kurt hum along to the music for the rest of the time. After about twenty minutes of this, Kurt suddenly started talking to him.

"So, have you thought about any clubs you'd like to join yet?"

Harry looked at him, stifling a chuckle at a sweep of flour on the bridge of Kurt's nose. He shrugged.

"Not really," he answered. "I thought about joining a sport or something, but try-outs have long since gone by. There's no way I'll be able to join a team at this point in the semester."

Kurt glanced at him from the side, blanching a bit. "What kind of sport would you be interested in, then?"

"Not sure," Harry answered, shrugging one shoulder and causing a bit of batter to fly in the air and land on the countertop. "Probably track. I'm a pretty fast runner."

"So, not football then?" Kurt asked, seeming to reassure himself a little.

"No interest," Harry replied. "I don't know a thing about American football and the guys I've seen wearing a Letterman jacket so far seem a little too big for me to be able to tackle."

"I suppose that's true," Kurt said, and let the matter rest.

The quiet returned. They worked in silence until the muffins were ready to be put in the oven. If Kurt had noticed the way Harry checked on him to make sure he was doing things correctly a little too often, he didn't mention it. And if Harry noticed that Kurt blushed a little too red when Harry manually adjusted the grip he had on the spatula, he didn't mention it either.

They had been sitting at the kitchen table, idly chatting about school, when the little bundle of energy Harry called a godson barrelled into the kitchen and climbed into Harry's lap.

"Hiya Teddy," Harry said to his thankfully brown haired godson as the little boy stared at Kurt with wide, green eyes. Kurt stared right back, a little smile on his lips.

"Unca? Who 'is?" Teddy asked, showing he still had a little difficulty with the 'th' sound. Or, y'know, long words in general.

"This is Kurt," Harry answered while the boy in question waved a bit at Teddy. "He goes to school with me and he's come over to bake muffins and help me with French."

Teddy nodded as if all this made perfect sense. It did, of course, but Teddy didn't necessarily know that. "'kay," he declared, leaning over the table a bit to reach out one of his tiny, grabby hands to Kurt. Kurt shook it, amused.

"Nice to meet you, Teddy," he said, as if he was meeting someone important. Teddy gave him a big, single- toothed smile in return. Harry smiled as well, his smile growing when he heard the panicky footsteps he recognised to be Remus' on the stairs.

"Harry, have you seen- Oh, there you are, " he said, sounding a little out of breath. "Harry, it seems that Teddy has learned to climb down the stairs."

"It appears so," Harry answered, amused. He noticed Kurt watching the exchange. "Oh, Remus, this is Kurt."

Remus looked at him, as if only just noticing he was there.

"Oh, right, of course," he said. "How rude of me. Remus Lupin, nice to meet you."

They shook hands, Kurt repeating the pleasantries, before Remus plucked Teddy from Harry's lap.

"I'll just take him off your hands so you two can start on your French," he said, before exiting the room again with Teddy waving over his shoulder. Kurt waved back and they did set to work then, Harry not noticing the flush that had risen up to Kurt's cheeks at the word 'French'.

Remus, who had stopped in the hall for a little bit to look in on them – and okay, maybe to watch the muffins rise in the oven a bit as well- _did _notice and grinned down at the little boy in his arms.

"Looks like your unca is being slow again, Teddy. He won't know what hit him."

Teddy giggled.

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><p><strong>So, what did you think? I had originally planned to introduce the person that knows who Harry is this chapter, but I liked this ending, so I didn't. They'll be introduced next chapter, so you still have time to guess if you want!<strong>

**I'll give you a hint, since a lot have people have been guessing this: It's not Brittany or Kurt. It's not. I promise.**

**Till next time!**

**-Robin.**


	7. That's with a 'Z'

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter seven: That's with a 'Z'.**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all!**

**Here I am with chapter seven, in which you will meet the person that knows Harry's identity. More about that at the bottom.**

**Also; I love you guys so, so much! Over a 100 reviews? Seriously? That's amazing! You guys rock.**

**Larger AN at the bottom. Enjoy!**

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><p>The next day, Harry went to school in high spirits. He had survived an afternoon with a Muggle in a magic infused house, Remus had somehow miraculously managed to get Teddy's hair to stay brown (though Harry supposed he should ask about how he had done it, Teddy didn't really seem all that pleased this morning when he woke up with brown hair) and he had a few delicious muffins with him in lieu of lunch (he hadn't told Remus about that particular fact and had thrown in an apple to soothe his own guilty conscience). All in all, that day was shaping up to be a good one, already.<p>

Of course, all good things must come to an end. This time it happened quite early in the day. Harry was just opening his locker to get his books for his next period when the locker was slammed shut. A rather large arm had entered his field of sight and was keeping the locker closed. Not sure if he really wanted to find out who the arm belonged to, Harry hesitatingly turned to face its owner anyway. The girl he found there was certainly not what he had expected. Nor did he expect her to stare at him like he was some sort of animal that would probably taste very good with a little barbecue sauce.

"Er, hi?", he tried when the girl kept staring at him after a few minutes. The girl removed her hand from the locker and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Hi," she said in a tone that told him he'd better not interrupt whatever she was about to say. He didn't.

"Let me get right to the point. I know who you are and you have something I need."

Harry was confused. "Er, do you need to borrow a pen or something? What's your name anyway?"

The girl looked at him, not impressed.

"Laren Zizes. That's with a 'Z'."

Harry nodded slowly. "Okay. What do you need, Lauren?"

"I know who you are," she repeated.

"Yes, you mentioned," Harry responded, trying his best to ignore the brief flare of panic that had started to tighten his chest area. "And I remember you sitting at the table the glee club was seated at when Artie introduced me, so I'm not surprised you know me."

She didn't look all that impressed with him. "One, I'm not a member of that stupid glee club. It's lame and I was only at that table because I want me some of the Puckasaurus."

Harry wrinkled his nose, trying his best not to picture that particular couple in his head. Lauren ignored this and continued talking.

"Two, don't give me that crap. I know exactly who you are, Mr Chosen One."

The feeling in Harry's chest tightened even further. "How?"

"My cousin went to school with you," she shrugged. Harry raised an eyebrow, not remembering having gone to school with someone called 'Zizes'.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I recall a 'Zizes' in my year."

"She wasn't in your year," Lauren responded, and Harry racked his brain even further to try and remember the name. Lauren cut his thoughts off, however. "And her name wasn't Zizes, either, but Clearwater. Penelope Clearwater."

The name rang a bell in Harry's head, but he had trouble putting a face to it. Then, he suddenly recalled Fred and George Weasley teasing their brother Percy about a girl he had been dating, called Penelope Clearwater. Fleetingly, the image of the Ravenclaw Head Girl in his third year flashed through his mind. He recalled her as being tall and slim with beautiful brown curls.

"Right, of course," he said, "Penelope, I remember her."

He hesitated for a second. "The family resemblance is-"

"Non-existent, so don't give me that bull," Lauren cut him off once again and Harry briefly wondered if she'd ever let him finish his thoughts or sentences.

"Okay," he sighed. "What do you want then?"

"Are you still friends with the Weasleys?" she asked, not answering his question.

"I am," he hedged, not sure about her intentions towards the family that had practically adopted him seven years ago.

"I need you to get me in contact with the twins," she said in a no-nonsense tone of voice. Harry was immediately on edge. He didn't really know this girl, but something in him told him that introducing her to Fred and George would end in disastrous results.

"What for?" he asked her carefully. She looked at him as if he were stupid.

"For their products. You know their store, Weasley Wizarding Wheezes? I need some of their stuff to keep my rep up."

"Yeah, I don't think I can do that," Harry answered, preparing to walk away from her.

"Why not?" she asked with a look in his eyes that told him he'd better have a good reason or there would be hell to pay.

"Because," he answered carefully, "Because it would be a breach of the Statue of Secrecy. It's not allowed to let a Muggle have magical artefacts, especially if they will be used on other Muggles."

He was a little proud of himself for thinking that up on the spot. He was sure there had to be a grain of truth in there somewhere, and it's not like Lauren Zizes would actually know the contents of the Statue of Secrecy. Hell, _Harry_ didn't know the exact contents of it and he had had to live in a tent with Hermione when she had been studying the blasted thing. All he knew was that Muggles finding out about magic was a big no- no.

"Really, that's it?" she asked him, incredulously. "You're not even going to try?"

Harry pretended to think about it for a moment. "No."

She sputtered at him for a bit, obviously not used to being denied anything. After a minute of Harry watching her amusedly, she seemed to gather her wits around her.

"You do realise I could just, like, out you to the school, right?"

Harry snorted. "As what, a wizard from a magical school next to an enchanted forest?"

"Yep, exactly," she answered, though she didn't seem as sure as before. Harry shook his head and turned around.

"Good luck with that," he tossed over his shoulder at her, knowing full and well that she would never try and do that in fear of ruining her own reputation. As he turned the corner, he felt triumphant.

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><p>The triumphant feeling didn't last long. After his final class for the day (Chemistry, yuk.) he had been summoned to the guidance councillor's office. She had sat him down, big eyes wide with concern for him and had fired rapid question at him for about thirty minutes about his home life, and how he was settling in at school and had he made any friends yet? Harry was thankful when she let him go, since he had trouble taking her and her big eyes very seriously. The eyes reminded him a bit of professor Trelawney.<p>

Feeling properly chagrined at having spent thirty minutes of his life he would never get back in a guidance councillor's office, he stopped by his locker to grab the books he'd need to do his homework out of. When he stepped away from the locker to walk out of the school and go home, he bumped into someone, sending them both off kilter.

Steadying himself and the person he had caused to come to an abrupt halt, he noticed it was Kurt that he had run into.

"Oh, sorry, Kurt," he said apologetically. "I didn't really watch where I was going."

"That's alright," Kurt said to him, eyes suspiciously damp. "I saw you nearly juggle the batter bowls yesterday, I know you're a bit clumsy."

Harry grinned a bit at that, until he noticed the dampness in Kurt's eyes.

"If it's alright, then why do you look like you're about to cry?"

Kurt seemed a bit embarrassed to be caught out on that and tried to hide it a bit by rubbing his cheeks.

"Oh, it's not you," he explained. "I just need a bit of a break from the guys in glee."

Harry's eyes narrowed some. "Why? Are any of them giving you trouble or anything?"

"It's not like that," Kurt answered. "Not really, at least. We're up against this new team in the next competition and they're all boys, so _of course _Puck made a crack about them being a gay school and how I would _fit in just right_ and stuff like that. Then he suggested I go spy since I'd fit in you know? And none of them would listen to my ideas, and they are genius!"

Harry took a moment to take the whole spiel in, a bit amazed at the amount of words Kurt just spewed out.

"You know," he said, "Just because Puck said it, doesn't mean you have to do it."

"Yeah, I know," Kurt sighed. "But I did say I would do it, and I'd look like a joke if I didn't, so I guess I'm going."

"Or…." Harry said, wondering why he got a tingle down his spine when Kurt looked up at him with a gleam of hope in his eyes, "Or, you could join me for coffee at this little shop I found the other day and just tell them you got caught tomorrow or something."

Kurt smiled at him. "I like the way you think, Harry."

"I have my moments."

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><p><strong>So…. Lauren! Only one person guessed correctly, that person being Lady Constance Malfoy Hummel, who still hasn't replied to the PM I sent her about it. So, if you read this, reply?<strong>

**Also, this is obviously the moment in time where Kurt makes a decision that will cause him not to meet Blaine at this point, as he doesn't go spying on the Warblers. Don't fret though, Blaine **_**will**_** make an appearance eventually.**

**So, what did you think? Liked it, hated it, loved it, want to throw rotten vegetables at me? Let me know!**

**Till next time!**

**-Robin.**


	8. Finn's hero

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter eight: Finn's hero**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all!**

**So, this chapter was a bitch to get out. I've had two weeks of exams I couldn't really write during, and I completely blanked on my story line around 600 words. I then proceeded to break two of my fingers in a clumsy accident I'm extremely embarrassed of.**

**But, here it is. Later than I would have liked, but it's here.**

**Thanks you all once again for all your reviews, and the story alerts and favourite alerts that keep coming in every day! They mean the world to me, honestly.**

**Here's the chapter, enjoy^^**

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><p>The next morning at school Harry was startled by a large arm that settled across his shoulder. Fighting of a feeling of deja- vu, he looked over at the tall boy standing next to him. He vaguely recalled having seen him before ('cause really, he didn't know a lot of people that tall without having some giant blood in them, so the tallness kind of struck out.), but couldn't place him.<p>

"Dude, you're like my new hero," the near- giant hanging off of him said, looking at him in utter adoration. For a moment, Harry was scared that Lauren Zizes had spouted of the mouth about him being a wizard. Then, the scared feeling vanished and his rational side kicked in (no matter what Hermione said, he _did_ have a rational side, thank you very much).

"Er, thanks?", he said, still trying to rationalise him being this guy's hero. Maybe he had been the last new kid and loved the fact that he wasn't anymore? Maybe with Harry here, he was no longer the worst student in French (though Harry couldn't really remember seeing him in French, but maybe he had sat in the back?).

"No, dude, seriously," the guy said, releasing Harry's shoulders to dig through his backpack for something. He pulled out a brown paper bag and reached in to grab a very familiar looking chocolate muffin. "You thought Kurt how to bake these, right? They're really good."

Ah, now Harry remembered who he was. Kurt had been talking about him over coffee the other day. This was Finn, Kurt's near- stepbrother. Kurt had told Harry he'd started naming him his stepbrother in his head, because an impending marriage between his dad and Finn's mum was inevitable.

"Yeah, I did," Harry answered, watching in awe as Finn nearly bit half of the muffin off in one go. Not even Ron could fit half a triple chocolate muffin in his mouth at once. He grinned a bit at the purple smudge of fondant on Finn's chin. Kurt had gone a little crazy after seeing the different colours of fondant Harry had stacked in the refrigerator.

Seriously though, if someone had only told him all it took to be a hero was bake muffins he would have sent Voldemort a ruddy gift basket full of them. Would have saved him a great deal of trouble.

"So," Finn said after swallowing the other half of the muffin and effectively stopping Harry's erratic thought pattern. "You and Kurt are, like, friends now, right?"

Were they? Harry figured they were. He and Kurt had clicked faster than he and Hermione had in any case. Not that he was wishing for a troll to come along and try to kill Kurt in the girls' bathroom or anything, but still. It was a good thing to measure friendships against.

"Yeah, I suppose we are," he said.

"Awesome," Finn said enthusiastically, giving Harry the sneaking suspicion that this was just his default setting. After a bit of Finn just standing there grinning at him, Harry started to wonder what he was still doing there, though.

"Was there anything you wanted, Finn?", he asked, closing the locker he had been rummaging through when Finn had surprised him.

The tall boy grinned a little sheepishly. "Er, yeah. I kinda need a favour."

"What is it?", Harry asked, not agreeing to anything yet.

"Did you talk to Kurt yesterday?" Finn asked.

Harry nodded. He had spoken to Kurt quite a lot after they had baked muffins together and had gone for coffee. They had exchanged phone numbers (Remus had stretched the importance of him being able to reach Harry in case anything happened, so Harry was now the owner of a cell phone he didn't really know how to operate) and Kurt had turned out to be quite the text-er. He would text at any given hour of the day, and had even called him last night to talk before going to bed. Harry wasn't sure this was normal phone behaviour, since he had never had a cell phone before, but he didn't mind. He was beginning to like having Kurt to talk to.

"So, did he, like, er, say something about me?" Finn asked, one hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Why would he have said anything about you?" Harry deflected, remembering Kurt ranting on about the boys in glee club over coffee. The boys hadn't exactly made a good impression on Kurt when they had told him to go spy on the all-boys choir.

Finn started to look around him, as if he wasn't sure he was allowed to say what he was about to say in public: "I don't know, man. He's been an Ice Queen or something for the past few days. He nearly _threw_ those muffins at me this morning."

Harry repressed a snort. Passive aggressiveness, he might need to watch out for that.

"Did you maybe say something he could've taken offense to?" he asked Finn, knowing full well the boy had.

Finn shrugged. "I don't know, dude, that's why I'm asking you."

Not impressed by the boy's thinking prowess at all, Harry raised an eyebrow. "When was the last time he talked to you?"

"When we were discussing songs for the glee assignment, I think," Finn answered, looking just a little too thoughtful.

"Okay," Harry said, nodding to keep him on track, "Did something happen then?"

"Kurt kind of stormed out," Finn shrugged again. Harry was doing his very best to supress the urge to rattle him to see if his thought process would speed up. Now he knew how Hermione must've felt while trying to explain Potions to him and Ron all those years.

"And _why_ did he storm out?", he asked instead.

"Because Puck said that- Oh. _Oh._ I screwed up."

Harry raised an eyebrow at him, the '_no shit, Sherlock'_ unsaid but clear on his face. "And why did you screw up?"

"Because I didn't do anything to stop Puck from being offensive or to stop him from walking out," Finn answered, his shoulders drooping.

"So, what should your next course of action be?" Harry asked, copying Hermione's methods of deduction near- perfectly.

"Apologise and promise to be a better friend in the future," Finn muttered, studying the toes of his shoes.

Harry nodded. "Yep. Might be best to throw in some grovelling as well."

Finn groaned, but looked back up at him with a thankful smile on his face.

"Thanks dude," he said. "You're, like, my new hero."

"I thought I already was," Harry said, indicating the bag of muffins still held in Finn's grasp. The boy chuckled.

"Right. Want one?"

"No, thank you."

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><p>The matter was resolved quickly after that. Finn had spoken to Kurt, who had relayed the conversation to Harry. Much grovelling and plying with expensive coffee had been involved.<p>

It didn't really come as a surprise to Harry when less than two weeks later Kurt came bounding up to him in the hallway to gleefully tell him that his dad had proposed to Finn's mom. After congratulating him, listening to his plans for the wedding and patiently explaining to him why he didn't think feeding glitter to doves was the greatest idea Kurt had ever had, the wedding planner in question looked up at him with big, pleading, blue eyes.

"So, Harry…."Kurt started saying, drawing out the 'y' far longer than he should.

"Yes?" Harry replied, amused at the tone of his voice.

"I booked the glee club to perform at the wedding. But there's a problem," Kurt said.

"Finn can't dance?" Harry joked, referring to one of the many rants Kurt has had over the boy.

Kurt looked contemplative. "I hadn't even though of that. I'm going to have to teach him along with my dad. _Anyway,_ that's not what I was talking about."

"Oh?"

"Puck drafted Lauren Zizes to be a member of the glee club." Kurt said. Harry nodded, not seeing a problem with that even though the girl had told him herself that she had no intention of joining the club.

"So," Kurt continued, "Now there's thirteen of us."

Harry took his word for it, not really remembering who all was a member of the club.

"Which means we're an uneven number and all of our dance routines will be completely off."

Harry had an idea where this was going and he wasn't sure he really liked it.

"Get to the point, Kurt," he said. Kurt looked at him with wide, gleaming eyes and Harry felt something weaken inside of him. His spine, most likely.

"How would you feel about joining glee club?"

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought about it?<strong>

**Till next time!**

**-Robin.**


	9. The Other End of the Line

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter nine: The Other End of the Line**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all!**

**BEFORE YOU READ THE CHAPTER, PLEASE READ THIS:**

**I just wanted to say I love every single kind review being sent my way, and I hop a little out of my seat with joy whenever I see a new story alert or favourite alert. Having said that, I like those because they are positive, and when they're not positive, they're **_**constructive.**_

**I love getting constructive reviews, every author does. I also love it when someone says they liked a chapter, without giving constructive criticism. What I don't like, is just plain criticism. I can't work with a 'you suck', or 'this story sucks', or 'boring'. It's great that you leave a review or PM me about the story, really. But I'm going to have to ask to stop PMing me if all you're going to give me is criticism. I suppose that goes for reviewing as well. When you say something's boring, I'd like to know why you think it's boring. If you think it sucks, tell me why (or don't bother reviewing at all, really). All you're doing right now is proving to me that you've got an opinion. Awesome. Good for you. That only proves you're marginally more intelligent than the average goldfish.**

_**So, in a nutshell: If all you've got to say is "this story sucks", don't even bother saying it and try to**__**write something better yourself. Constructive criticism is the way to go here.**_

**I'm going to stop bitching now.**

**Again, thanks for all the kind and sweet reviews and messages I do get, they really mean the world to me!**

**Here's the chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it.**

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><p>"Wait, wait," Ron breathed in between bouts of laughter. "Say it again, <em>please<em>."

Harry sighed, doing his very best to resist throwing his cell phone against the wall.

"I joined a choir," he said, sighing as his redheaded friend went into another fit of laughter on the other end of the line. He decided to just wait out the laughter and put his phone on speaker mode (something Kurt had explained to him the other day when he had accidentally set it on speaker and Remus' voice was heard through the entire hallway) before laying it on the kitchen counter so that he could unload the dishwasher (which let out a sound of protest upon him doing so).

From the corner of his eyes he saw Teddy running into the kitchen and he smiled when he heard the tell- tale sound of Remus' agitated footsteps following him. He shuffled in front of Teddy and grinned when Teddy grasped the back of his jeans in his hand so that he could hide behind him better. Even at nearly two years old, the little boy was proving to be a bit of a mischievous child, winding his father up like that. In the background, he could still hear Ron's boisterous laughter coming from the phone.

"You know, Remus," Harry said when the man skidded into the kitchen, his eyes darting around to find his son. "All this worrying you do about Teddy is going to give you a heart attack someday."

Remus looked at him as if he really couldn't care less. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just worried he's going to hurt himself running around the house. Where is he? I heard him coming in here."

Harry went to shrug, but then raised an eyebrow instead.

"How exactly is he going to hurt himself in this house?" he asked. "Everything sharp is put away, anything fragile had had a strengthening charm placed on it, you've put child proof locks on pretty much _everything _in the house and have put cushioning charms on every hard object. I'm fairly sure he'd have to actively _try_ to hurt himself."

"Well, that is to say…" Remus tried, before giving up. "Never mind that, where's my child?"

"Who's to say he hasn't found a way to open one of your child proof locks and has crawled into a cabinet somewhere?"

Remus faltered, seeming to actually wonder about this for a bit, before his resolve strengthened.

"You're just still bitter you couldn't open the child proof locks I placed on the closets in your room for the first two _weeks_. Now hand me my son."

Harry narrowed his eyes. It wasn't his fault he couldn't get those closets open. Remus hadn't even warned him he had installed child proof locks, so of course he didn't expect to be faced with difficulty when he went to open the cabinet above his desk. He blamed the days after that on the Dursleys. The only lock he had had on his cupboard wasn't child proof. It was anyone- but- uncle- Vernon proof.

"Just for that, I'm not going to tell you where your son is," he grumbled, but the effect was somewhat ruined by Teddy giggling from somewhere around his knees. Remus' eyes immediately locked onto the position and Teddy –seemingly sensing this- gripped the back of Harry's jeans tighter still. The raven haired boy started to worry about the blood flow in his lower extremities.

Remus dived down to grab his on and hung him over his shoulder, Teddy shrieking with laughter as his father marched them out of the room. Before leaving, Remus tossed a parting comment over his shoulder:

"I think someone's trying to get your attention."

Confused, Harry watched him go before suddenly remembering he had been in the middle of a phone call. He turned back to the counter and picked up the phone, automatically negating the speaker mode.

"…rry, Harry, come on, answer me!"

Harry chuckled. "Nice to hear your voice too, Hermione."

"Harry!" the girl started, "Why is Ron in stitches on the floor?"

"I don't know," he answered. "Maybe he thought about that Halloween costume he was planning again."

"And one of these days I'm going to find out what it is, too," Hermione mused. "Though I'm pretty sure that's not what's got him laughing. He stopped outright laughing days ago and started snickering instead. So, what did you tell him?"

"Nothing unusual," He evaded. "I just told him I joined a choir at school."

The silence after his announcement took a little longer than he would have liked. "Hermione?"

"Huh? Oh sorry, I was just dragging Ronald up from the floor. So, a choir. Why did you decide to join a choir?"

In the background, Harry could hear Ron protesting against being manhandled and Hermione shushing him. In his mind, he could easily picture him looking just as she had when she had found out Ron and Harry had been the ones to exchange Lavender and Seamus' underwear; strict, like she wanted to scold them, but with a reluctant smile dragging at her lips.

"Kurt asked me to," Harry answered simply. Another short silence fell.

"Okay, and- _Will you be quiet, Ronald? _And who's this Kurt then?"

"Kurt is my friend," he answered, while storing away the clean dishes in the child proofed cupboards, "They were a member short for their choreographies and he asked me to join them so things wouldn't look weird. I figured I would, to help him out."

"That's very sweet of you, Harry. Now I'd like to hear the real reason," Hermione said, sounding just like professor McGonagall in that moment.

"I heard it makes an actual addition to a college resume," he tried.

"Nice try," she answered drily. "Nice touch though, throwing in academics."

"I thought so," he said, grinning slightly.

"Reason, Harry."

"He's my friend and I haven't really made a lot of those yet?"

"_Harry."_

Harry sighed. "Fine. He's kind of cute. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Pretty much, yes," Hermione answered, with a very un- Hermione like giggle.

"Happy now?"

"Ecstatic. _Oh, Ronald, will you stop laughing? It's not that funny._"

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><p>When Harry ended the phone call over an hour later (Hermione had kept going on and on about the new professors at Hogwarts and about which subjects she liked more now after having spent a year living in a tent and barely learning any new magic), a new text message was waiting for him. Opening it, he noticed it was from Kurt.<p>

_Sent: 15.32_

_Hi Harry! Puck's throwing a small party to celebrate Halloween tomorrow night. It's just for glee club, but you're a member now, too, so you're invited! Want to come? –Kurt._

Harry grinned, stuffing the phone in his pocket. He put away the last of the dishes (ignoring the fact that clearing out the dishwasher had never taken this long before) and went off to find Remus. Normally he didn't care much for Halloween parties, and while he was surprised that Puck was throwing one three days in advance, he didn't much mind. Now, all he needed was to get permission to go from an overprotective werewolf. Oh, joy.

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><p><strong>And this concludes the chapter! What did you guys think?<strong>

**Till next time!**

**-Robin.**


	10. Coming Out of the Cauldron

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter ten: Coming Out of the Cauldron. **

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all!**

**First I'd like to apologise for my little rant last chapter. I'd had a crappy week, and coming home to negative, non- constructive ticked me off just a bit too much. The straw that broke the camel's back and all that. This is not to say I didn't mean what I wrote, but I could have gone about it a little more tactfully. I'm a tactless bitch sometimes.**

**Secondly I'd like to send out a thank- you to **_**Barrel of Monkeys**_** , whose PM for some reason I can't answer. Thanks for your kind message, it really made my day!**

**Thirdly I want to thank you all very much for your sweet reviews, your story alerts and your favourites! I love logging in to my email account and seeing all the emails that brings me. You guys are awesome, you totally rock!**

**Fourthly and lastly… I've had this done for like ten days already, but for some reason I couldn't get it to upload. Which is strange because I **_**was**_** able to upload three chapters for one of my other stories… FF is weird. **

**Fifthly (I lied, this is the last one) this is the chapter where the plot really starts to kick in (and wow, it only took me ten chapters to get here….)**

**So, enjoy reading and don't be afraid to let me know what you think of it ^^**

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><p>It had taken him over six hours, two pots of tea, a promise to keep out of danger and a batch of his chocolate muffins, but Harry had succeeded. He had managed to get Remus' permission to go to Puck's Halloween party. The victorious feeling that came over Harry when realising he had won this small battle was shattered by Remus drily massacring a muffin with his teeth and saying:<p>

"You know you're eighteen, right? You don't really have to ask me for permission for things like going out. You're a legal adult."

Harry very nearly hit himself in the face, having completely forgotten about that.

"Er, right," he said, ignoring the smirk on his guardian's face. "I knew that. Just thought you might appreciate the gesture. You can see it as practise for when Teddy is older, if you will."

Remus was having none of it. "You're rating pretty high on my bullshit meter right now, cub."

Harry nodded, giving in. "Alright, fine. I'm just going to head upstairs and call Kurt to see if he's got a costume I could borrow, since I've never actually celebrated Halloween before."

He thought about why he had never really celebrated Halloween before for a bit. The death of his parents, strict relatives, a troll, a death day party, a petrification (_never mind that it was a cat_), the Triwizard Championship, visions sent by Voldemort and living in a tent kind of put a damper on the festive holiday over the years. He shook his head. Best make this year count then. And he was pretty sure Kurt and Puck would be able to help him with that. He turned around to walk upstairs.

"Hang on, Harry," Remus said, stopping him from walking out of the room. "Sit down for a second, I need to talk to you about something."

Harry took a seat on the sofa, sitting directly across from Remus. He quietly wondered what this could be about. He hadn't heard that tone of voice from his guardian in months. The werewolf sounded weary, a bit resigned. Whatever this conversation was going to be about, Remus didn't like it, which made Harry instantly dislike it as well.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked.

Remus sighed, before throwing a look over at Teddy, who was busy colouring something at the coffee table. Harry chose not to mention that the thing Teddy was colouring probably _was_ the coffee table.

"Do you remember the conversation we had with Kingsley a few days after the war was won?"

"Vaguely," Harry answered. "My head was a bit scrambled at the time."

"Right, the concussion. What do you remember from that conversation?" Remus asked.

"Not a lot, to be honest," Harry answered. "I remember that Kingsley would be the acting minister until elections could be held again and him being not too pleased about that. That's pretty much all I remember."

"Alright," Remus said thoughtfully, "Then I'm going to fill in the blanks for you now. After Kingsley accepted the mantel of acting minister, we discussed what the end of the war would mean for the Wizarding World. Arthur and Molly were there as well, as were Minerva, Fillius, and Aberforth. We talked about how the destruction of so much land and so many buildings and monument in muggle populated areas would not go unnoticed, and that memory charms wouldn't always work, because we had no way of knowing who had noticed something. Are you with me so far?"

"I'm with you," Harry nodded, not sure he liked where this conversation was headed.

"I've kept in touch with Kingsley since we moved here," Remus continued, "And he's kept me informed on all the happenings over in Britain. There has been a lot of debate in the Wizengamot meetings about this issue, because the things we predicted have started happening. Muggle journalists have started questioning the things that happened during the war and that were written off as muggle terrorist attacks."

"Oh dear," Harry sighed, reaching over to the table to take a muffin, feeling like he could use the dose of sugar it offered.

"'Oh dear' sounds about right," Remus agreed with him. "So, after assessing the damage done by this, the Wizengamot and Kingsley were forced to acknowledge that there is no way of knowing which muggles have figured out that magic exists. They know some of them have, there have been publications in tabloids around Britain and Europe detailing how the terrorist attacks around Britain and Europe were in fact the work of evil wizards and witches. Some tabloid have come scarily close to the truth, and one was even spot –on."

"So what are you saying?" Harry asked, already knowing but dreading the answer he was sure Remus was about to give.

"I'm saying that the ministry is planning to act on this before the muggle world does. Kingsley told me that the ministry is planning on breaking the Statue of Secrecy. Magic is going to go public. Most countries have agreed to this already, it's just the Dutch and Swedish ministries that are still doubting this issue," Remus told him.

"So basically," Harry tried to summarize, "The magical world is about to be exposed to muggles. Have they thought this through well enough? Who's to say there won't be a new round of witch trials?"

"That's a risk I believe they are willing to take," Remus answered. "But that's pretty much why Sweden and the Netherlands aren't convinced yet. The wizarding communities there are much smaller than they are in Britain, France, Eastern Europe and the Middle East."

"What about Australia, then? If I remember correctly, their wizarding community isn't exactly huge either."

"Australia still falls under the British crown," Remus explained. "Our ministry decides for them."

Harry thought about this for a minute. Having magic out in the open would simplify some matters greatly. He wouldn't have to be afraid of what would happen if he accidentally did magic, he could be honest about where he came from, and Lauren Zizes would have nothing to hang over his head anymore. On the other side of the coin, there was always the fear of another witch hunt. What would happen if a group of extreme magic- haters would rally together and try to round up all wizards and witches? And dear Merlin, what about the religious people? Wasn't there something in the Bible about witchcraft?

"If Sweden and the Netherlands agree, when would the Statue of Secrecy be broken?" he asked.

"Exactly a week from today," Remus answered. "That way we can still celebrate All Hallow's Eve without attracting too much attention, and the full moon will have just gone by as well, to minimise the chance of muggles fearing werewolves and other magical beasts."

Harry nodded, though he didn't quite agree with Remus calling himself a beast.

"What will it mean for us?" he asked Remus. "There's not a large population of magical folk left in America after the last witch hunts. Do we tell people, or do we keep to ourselves?"

"Good question," Remus said. "A day before the Statue is broken, Kingsley will release a press statement in the Daily Prophet, as will every other Minister of Magic in their newspaper. He will advise magical folk to keep to themselves, and don't give away the fact that they're magical until the general opinion of the public is measured. It is of course unwise to announce the fact that you can do magic when you live in a magic fearing neighbourhood, I don't think I need to tell you that."

Harry nodded again. "What if I'm asked directly though?"

"Ask yourself If they can be trusted and if it's wise to reveal yourself as magical to the world. For now though, I think it would be best if we lay low. Lie if you have to. At least until we're sure how the people here will react."

"Alright," Harry sighed. "I need to think on this. Is it okay if I go upstairs to call Kurt now?"

Remus, accepting that the serious moment was over, nodded with a playful smile around his lips.

"You know you can call him from right here, cub. I don't mind."

Harry shot his guardian a dirty look.

"Yeah, but I do. See you later, Remus."

With that, he walked past Teddy (dropping a quick kiss to the top of his head, Teddy crinkled his nose) and left the room. He had some serious thinking to do. And a costume to arrange.

* * *

><p><strong>So, no Kurt Harry interaction this chapter. The Halloween party will be in the next chapter.**

**So, what did you think? Yay, hurrah or boo, hiss?**

**Till next time,**

**-Robin.**


	11. Primping for Halloween

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter eleven: Primping for Halloween **

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all!**

**At first, I wasn't going to post this. These are just a few scenes I wanted to write somewhere between the real start of the plot, and the Halloween party at Puck's. The ideas kept building, though, and I decided to squeeze them in anyways. Somehow, two little scenes turned into a chapter. Think of it as a kind of interlude, if you will. Anyways, two chapters in as many days. This doesn't happen often.**

**Enjoy and don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

><p>Harry bit his lip, studying himself in the mirror. Kurt had delivered a costume, as he had promised, but he wasn't really sure what he thought of it. He had thanked his friend profusely of course, but now that he was wearing it he doubted if it was appropriate. It was just so <em>tight.<em> Kurt had mumbled something about the costume being a popular culture reference, but Harry didn't really understand that either. Living with the Dursleys and then in a castle away from muggle civilisation pretty much meant he didn't get _any_ pop culture references. He supposed the claw- thingies sticking out between his fingers were kind of awesome, though.

He walked into the bathroom, grabbing the jar of hair wax Kurt had left behind for him. The boy had instructed him to style his unruly mess of hair in a way that the unruliness of it seemed to be done on purpose. Harry had nodded at him, but looking in the mirror now he had no idea what he had meant by that. Taking the jar with him, Harry left the bathroom again, this time to go downstairs and ask Remus if he knew what he was supposed to do with his hair.

"Remus?" He asked when he walked into the living room where the werewolf was busy playing peekaboo with his son. "Do you know anything about hair products?"

"Not a thing," Remus answered before turning around, "Why would you need to – _what are you wearing?_"

Harry shrugged. "Not a clue. But look; claws!"

With that, he slid out the built in fake claws, having figured out how to do so about half an hour ago. Remus raised an eyebrow at him, obviously not impressed.

"Really?" he asked drily, "You're showing me your claws? You're not hitting on me, are you?"

Harry sputtered a bit before remembering that werewolves didn't really have any different mating rituals from humans, save the howling thing. He narrowed his eyes at his now smirking guardian.

"Very funny. I'm flattered, but I'm not asking you out on a date. Doesn't matter how well kept your moustache is."

Remus immediately stopped smirking. "What's wrong with my moustache?"

"Oh nothing," Harry innocently replied, taking over Remus' peekaboo game with Teddy for a second. "Just do me a favour and don't take Teddy to the park any time soon. I really don't want to have to bail you out of jail."

Remus looked at him as if he wasn't sure whether to take him seriously or not. Harry thought it was a hilarious expression, but didn't say so, choosing to remain stoic instead. After a minute or so of enjoying the moment he got up from where he had been playing with Teddy.

"Well, fun as this has been, I think I'm going to go. It's still early, but I'll stop by Kurt's first so he can maybe fix my hair a bit. I'll try not to make any noise when I come back tonight."

"Alright," Remus nodded distractedly, still mulling over Harry's earlier words. "Have fun. "

* * *

><p>The man opening the door to Kurt's house was nothing like he had expected Kurt's father to look like. He was big, broad, bald (and thinking about how much Kurt cared for his hair, Harry really hoped the baldness wasn't genetic) and dressed in clothes he was pretty sure Kurt didn't want to be found dead in.<p>

"Can I help you?" the man asked, looking at Harry as if he immediately distrusted him.

"Er, is Kurt home?" Harry asked, not sure why this man seemed to intimidate him more than half of the Death Eaters he had faced.

"Who's asking?" the man he assumed to be Mr Hummel gruffly asked.

"Harry Potter, sir, " Harry answered. "Kurt told me something about how to do my hair, but I don't really know anything about that kind of stuff, so I was hoping he'd be willing to help me out."

The man snorted. "Doing someone's hair? I think he'll be delighted. Come on in."

Harry walked past Mr Hummel, feeling as if he just passed some sort of test he wasn't previously aware he was taking. He stopped a few feet ahead of him, not really knowing where he was supposed to go. He turned back around to where Mr Hummel was still standing, watching him with amusement in his eyes.

"To the left, then down the stairs," he said. Harry nodded, gave an awkward little wave and walked in the direction the man had pointed him in.

As he approached the closed door, he could hear music. It became louder with every step he took and when he finally walked down the stairs to knock on the door, a woman's voice singing about wanting someone's bad romance became impossible to ignore. He stopped in front of the door, his hand poised to knock when he heard Kurt's voice mingling with whoever was singing. What stopped him from just knocking was that he wasn't the only one. He was joined by several girl voices. Harry questioned his chances of getting out of there fast, but decided that his hair really _did_ look a mess and that he could use all the help he could get.

He knocked, and stepped back quickly when the door swung open wide. Tina looked confused as she looked at him.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" she asked, and the rest of the girls and Kurt turned around to look at him as well. Harry felt a little uncomfortable under their gazes, especially when Mercedes seemed to realise that he was wearing an extremely tight costume and started giggling and blushing. Santana wolf- whistled at him, appropriately dressed as a little red devil. Harry helplessly held up the jar of hair wax he hadn't let go of since taking it out of the bathroom at home.

"I, er, really don't know how to do this, so I thought I'd ask Kurt if he would help me," he explained. "I didn't know all of you would be here as well."

"Kurt's helping us with our hair and make- up, too!" Rachel chirped. "What do you think of my costume?"

Harry looked at her swishing her over the knee length dress around, pointing at a bonnet on her head gleefully. He had no clue who she was supposed to be, but he nodded and smiled anyway.

"Nice, Rachel. You look cute."

She beamed at him and Harry felt like he had dodged a bullet. From the looks Kurt was shooting him, he was fairly spot on with that assessment. He decided to err on the side of caution and said to the rest of the girls: "And so do you! You all look great."

The girls all grinned at him and he smiled back at them, feeling a little more secure around them now that he hadn't alienated them by speaking badly about their costumes (This of course did not include Lauren, who was smirking at him pointedly, a black witch's head perched on her head. He decided he quite liked her little jabs, even though they might get him in trouble when the ministers shattered the Statue of Secrecy. They reminded him a bit of how Dean and Seamus had always been trying to one- up each other at Hogwarts).

The girls went back to what they were doing –_though were did Santana and Brittany disappear to?- _and Harry approached Kurt. He had no clue what the fashionable boy was wearing either, but he really liked the tightness of it. The black cat- suit started making more sense when the boy pulled out cat ears to go with it, though.

"So, will you help me?" he asked. "You look great, too, by the way."

"No need to flatter me into getting what you want," Kurt told him, though from the flush on his cheeks he was currently drawing whiskers on Harry could tell that he really didn't mind. "I'll do your hair for you anyway."

"Thanks!" Harry grinned at him. "I mean it, though. You look brilliant."

"Thank you," Kurt smiled, taking the jar of wax from him and pushing him down into a chair. "You make a mean Wolverine as well."

Ah, so that's who he was supposed to be. Didn't ring any bells, though. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Kurt said, suddenly standing behind him. "Now, hold still, and only move your head when I ask you to, okay?"

"I can do that," Harry nodded. Kurt tssk'ed behind him. "Oh, sorry."

While Kurt was busy massaging wax into his hair (and dear Merlin, Harry hadn't expected that it would feel _that good_) the girls broke up their conversation at the other side of the room after a final bout of giggles. After a few seconds, Rachel walked up to Harry and Kurt with a determined glint in her eyes. She crouched down before Harry so she could look him in the face.

"You know, Harry," she said. "You have really pretty eyes. Such an unusual colour," she said.

"Thank you Rachel," Harry answered, not sure why she was staring at his eyes. "I got them from my mum."

"Hmm," she nodded. "I'm glad you decided to wear your contacts tonight. It's a shame you hide them so often."

He looked at her questioningly, not noticing that Tina was no longer part of the pack of girls edging towards them.

"In fact," Mercedes added her two cents, "We think they could use some extra attention."

An alarm started going off in Harry's head. He barely felt Kurt pulling his hands away from his head and stepping away.

"What do you mean?" he asked her, a slight tremor in his voice that he hoped none of them would notice. Judging by Kurt's soft chuckle, someone had.

Harry turned around to lightly glare at Kurt, and that was all the girls needed. Lauren and Mercedes darted forwards to grab his arms and hold him steady while Rachel giggled and pulled Kurt over to stand beside her.

"Now Harry," Rachel started. "Please keep in mind that we like you, and we only want what's best for you."

Harry decided not to mention that he doubted that very much. The girls turned his chair around, revealing Tina who was now only an inch away from poking him in the face with an eye- pencil. He started shaking his head, already having gone through this once with Lavender and Parvati to make up for being a terrible date to the Yule ball and not wanting a repeat of that night. The Asian girl took hold of his chin to stop his head from moving. He decided he liked her a little less now. He realised he was right in thinking that when she smiled sweetly at him and said:

"Now sit still, Harry, before I poke your eyes out."

* * *

><p><strong>I can't believe two small scenes grew into this. (Seriously, both scenes were only about 200 words each at first)…<strong>

**So, what did you think? **

**Till next time,**

**-Robin.**


	12. Back in the Closet

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter twelve: Back in the Closet **

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all!**

**I hate my busy schedule. I hardly have any time left for writing between college, my internship and work. I'll try to keep updating on a semi-regular schedule though, even though I'd really like to update my other stories as soon as possible as well.**

**Of course: Thank you all a bunch for all your reviews, and alerts and favourites. You guys are amazing, even when I'm lousy at updating. Thank you all so much!**

**Enjoy and don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

><p>Harry wasn't exactly sure how things had come to this. Somewhere between laughing at Finn's costume (because the tall boy had come dressed as the worst impression of a vampire he had ever seen), ogling over Santana and Brittany's lack of inhibitions when it came to grinding and making out on every available surface and drinking what he was pretty sure was the vilest tasting drinks he had ever had, he had become roped into this immature, blush- inducing game that he had stupidly confessed to never having played before.<p>

Don't get him wrong, Harry had just as many hormones as the next guy, but games like this hadn't really been played at Hogwarts. Either that, or Harry just hadn't been invited. Maybe it was because everyone had been terrified at being caught out of bed by their Head of House or Mr Filch, or maybe because everyone was just a bit too concerned about the impending war to focus on silly games designed to make one lose their inhibitions and shame. It was probably the latter.

Then again, Harry could think of worse things than spending half an hour (because apparently, seven minutes was _so sixth grade, seriously Berry_) locked in a closet with Kurt. Who, incidentally, had started to look even more irresistible as the night progressed and the costume started sticking to his skin a bit more.

"I'm _so_ sorry about this," the boy sitting next to him in the dark closet mumbled for about the seventh time.

"It's quite alright," Harry answered him, as he had done all six times before.

"No, really," Kurt insisted, "My friends are idiots."

Harry made a noncommittal sound, not exactly disagreeing with him. He _had, _after all, witnessed Puck trying to impress Lauren Zizes by eating as many pretzels as he could in a single go. His bid to impress the girl had backfired spectacularly when he had vomited all over the back porch.

"I don't much mind," Harry hedged after a few moments of silence. "I can think of worse people to spend half an hour locked in a dark closet with."

Kurt snorted in a way Harry hadn't heard from him before. "Oh, yeah? Like who?"

"Puckerman, for one," Harry answered. "Seriously, have you smelled him since his pretzel stunt? He positively reeks."

Kurt laughed, a proper laugh this time, and Harry smiled a bit. "Thanks for not making this too awkward," Kurt said softly from somewhere to his right.

"You're welcome," Harry muttered back, "Though I honestly don't think things between us could ever be awkward. I mean, you _did_ dress me up in a freaking skin -tight suit, did my hair and allowed that pack of hungry females to force eyeliner on me. I think we're good."

"If it makes you feel any better," Kurt said through his chuckles, "I think you look pretty damn good like that."

"Gee, shucks," Harry teased him, playfully bumping into his shoulder with his own a bit. "And was that a cuss word, Kurt Hummel? I don't think I've heard you cuss before."

"Some situations require curse words," the cat suit clad boy answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And one of those 'situations' would be me in way too tight clothing?"

"…Maybe."

Harry couldn't be certain, but he was pretty sure Kurt had to be blushing by now. If only he could see so he could be sure.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, this is ridiculous," Kurt said, and as if he was reading his thoughts: "There has got to be a light bulb in here _somewhere_."

Harry nodded, invisible to Kurt. In his experience (and he had an unhealthy amount of experience with closets) there were light bulbs in most closets. Granted, the one in his cupboard under the stairs had been broken since he was about five years old, but there had been a light bulb nonetheless. He remembered there had been light bulbs ( or, well, candles, which were the magical variety of light bulbs, backwards though it was) every time he had had to hide from Mr Filch or patrolling teachers when he had been out on one of his plentiful nightly strolls during his years at Hogwarts.

"A little help, Harry?" Kurt's voice came from his right, and he discovered that he had been lost in thoughts again, while he should have been helping Kurt with searching for light.

"Yeah, sorry," he mumbled, his hands coming up to search for a switch. Instead, he made contact with something soft.

"_Not a light switch_," Kurt squeaked, and Harry belatedly realised he was grabbing Kurt's butt. He hadn't even heard him get up. He quickly let go.

"Sorry, my bad," he said, as though it was an everyday occurrence even though he was doing a little happy dance on the inside. He cleared his throat, and then closed his eyes at the sudden light shining in his eyes.

"Found a flashlight," Kurt redundantly said. Harry raised an eyebrow at him sarcastically. The brunette boy shrugged in response.

The boys sat in silence for a little bit, not looking at each other, but focussing on the door. Well, Kurt was focussing on the door. Harry was still a bit in awe at having touched Kurt's behind. They sat there for a bit longer, till suddenly a loud bout of noise came drifting through the door.

"Do you reckon they remember we're still in here?"

"Doubtful," Kurt snorted. "They're forgetful at the best of times, and now they've ingested alcohol on top of that. I just hope they remember we're here when they all go home."

Harry chuckled. "Surely they can't be that bad."

Kurt turned around to look at him. "Mercedes once forgot her shoes in the dressing room of the mall. She didn't notice until we were halfway home. On foot."

Harry burst into laughter. "She didn't!"

Kurt nodded solemnly. "She did."

"Wow, that's incredible," the boy wizard said in response. "And I thought I was forgetful."

"You are," Kurt told him. "You left your cell phone at my place."

Harry's hand flew to his pockets to find that the boy was right. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Kurt shrugged, and Harry took the time to really look at him while he floundered with coming up with the right answer. After a few seconds Harry decided to prompt him softly: "Kurt?"

"I don't know," he finally answered. "I suppose I might have thought that it would be nice if you came around again to pick it up."

Harry smiled at him for a bit. "You don't have to think up reasons to have me around, I'd love to come over whenever."

Kurt grinned at him hesitatingly, a hint of relief flecking his eyes. "Okay. Great," he nodded.

A few more moments passed, both boys suddenly glad to be in the closet when someone began hooting in the room beyond and yelling things like "Take it off!" and " Look at that booty!". Harry couldn't be sure, but he thought it was Artie.

They both chuckled, and Harry turned to face Kurt fully.

"Are you really put out at being in here with me?", he asked, not being able to stop himself after having thought that for far longer than the half an hour they were supposed to have been in there.

"No," Kurt admitted, and Harry's insides did a little victory dance at the small blush staining his cheeks. "Not really."

"Good," he grinned. "Me neither."

Kurt's eyes flashed up to meet his and Harry did nothing to repress the Dumbledore- esque glimmer he knew was shimmering in his eyes. Kurt grinned back at him, then seemed to question something. Before Kurt could ask the question Harry was half sure, and half hoping, he would ask, the Brit cut him off:

"I'm not going to kiss you now."

"Oh," Kurt said, seeming to deflate a little. "Okay."

Harry snorted. "I said _now_, not never. I'd like to take you out first, if that's alright with you."

With those words, Kurt seemed to puff up a bit again. Harry tried not to laugh at the sudden mood changes in his friend.

"Yeah, I'd like that," the boy muttered, and Harry repressed a grin at the small flush that was still visible on his cheeks.

"Brilliant," he said, then looked up startled as the hoots and hollers from beyond the door got even louder. Kurt did, as well.

"I vote we stay in here for a little longer," the countertenor said.

"Excellent idea," Harry agreed.

* * *

><p><strong>Finally some progress!<strong>

**Let me know your thoughts?**

**Till next time,**

**-Robin.**


	13. Brits Overseas

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter twelve: Brits Overseas**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all! Can't believe it's been a month…**

**I **_**hate**_** my busy schedule. I hardly have any time left for writing between college, my internship and work. Also, a string of bad luck that seems to be following me around… I'll try to keep updating on a semi-regular schedule though, even though I'd really like to update my other stories as soon as possible as well. **

**Of course: Thank you all a bunch for all your reviews, and alerts and favourites. You guys are amazing, even when I suck at updating. Thank you all so much!**

**Enjoy and don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

><p>"This better be incredibly important," Harry grumbled at whoever the person tugging on his foot was. He'd gotten home at five o'clock and had only managed to fall asleep from sheer exhaustion at six. Thankfully Brittanny, in a stroke of genius, had remembered he and Kurt had still been locked in the closet at the end of the party. Many hoots and hollers had followed their getting out of their closet, mostly by Santana.<p>

Whoever was tugging on his foot didn't answer him, instead choosing to tug a little harder. Harry grunted and buried his face in his pillow, really not wanting to get up yet. The person at his feet tugged again. Harry kicked his legs back, pushing his face farther into his pillow childishly. A familiar "_Oh, honestly_," made him lift his head a bit. He recognised the voice, and knew what the tone meant. Preparing to move away quickly, he was still surprised by the jet of ice cold water that was suddenly soaking him.

He yelped and jumped out of the bed immediately. Next to him stood Hermione Granger, a wand held in her hand and a smug grin on her face. On her hip Teddy was balanced, who had his gaze firmly fixed on Ron Weasley, who was too busy laughing to notice that Teddy's hair had acquired a flaming red colour rather similar to his.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked after the initial shock at having his best friends from home suddenly standing in his bedroom in America.

"We came to see you, mate," Ron answered. "Came all the way out here and you don't even greet us when we get here. For shame, Harry."

Just as Harry was about to answer that (Had he really missed Remus telling him they'd be there? Had he forgotten? Had the owl got lost?), Hermione shot Ron a look and said:

"Oh, relax Harry. He's just messing with you. Kingsley wanted to talk to you and we decided to tag along so we could see you for a bit."

"McGonagall allowed that?", Harry asked disbelievingly. Hermione nodded, but it was Ron who answered.

"Oh, yeah. In a heartbeat. I reckon her soft spot for you has grown in the time you've been away. She even gave us a tin of biscuits to give to you."

He held out a tartan decorated tin. Harry took of the lid and found half a tin full of his favourite biscuits. He raised an eyebrow at Ron, who shrugged.

"Got hungry waiting for you to wake up. Figured you wouldn't mind."

Hermione snorted. Harry felt tempted to do the same but held it in instead. He just nodded and placed the tin on his nightstand.

"Right. Send her my thanks will you? I'm just going to get dressed now."

"Right. Come along, Ron. We'll go tell them Harry's up," Hermione said, hoisting the red- haired Teddy a little higher on her hip. Harry's mind couldn't resist with coming up with the image of a slightly older Hermione, balancing a red- haired toddler of her own on her hip. He was sure that with the Weasley talent of producing red- headed offspring that day wouldn't be all too far off.

"Yeah, sure 'Mione," the youngest Weasley boy answered, looking over at his girlfriend. "Oi, he looks just like-"

"Yes, Ron. Come along."

Neither of them noticed Ron sneaking the tin of biscuits from the nightstands to take downstairs.

* * *

><p>Three hours later, Harry was clutching his fourth cup of coffee while trying to make sense of what Kingsley was telling him. Hermione was to his right with Teddy – who had apparently taken a real shine to her- cuddled up in her lap. To his left was Ron, who was glancing at Harry's coffee longingly while morosely sipping his water. Apparently professor McGonagall had forbidden him from drinking any coffee until after graduation. Too many small accidents in Charms because of a hyped- up Ron was something she –and professor Flitwick- weren't very fond of.<p>

"So let me get this straight," Harry said. "Sweden and the Netherlands have agreed to break the Statue of Secrecy as well and the wizarding world will be coming out of the cauldron –so to speak- in exactly two days from now. "

"Exactly," Kingsley Shackebolt answered, nodding his gleaming bald head. "All magical governments will release an internal press statement tomorrow, followed by an external press statement for the muggle world the day after. "

"You see, I've been thinking about this," Harry said with a contemplative look on his face, "and I've noticed that the last war trials haven't even come to pass yet. How are you going to handle those at the same time as going public about magic?"

From beside him, Hermione let out a whispered '_I hadn't thought of that'_ and Harry spared a brief moment to feel a bit smug at having had one over on his best female friend.

"We will of course have to give a reason as to why we're going public now," Kinglsey answered him, ignoring the fact that Teddy had just copied his hairstyle and skin colour, " so we'll have to tell them about the war. It might even be an idea to broadcast the trials to muggle homes as well, instead of just magical ones, to give them an insight as to how we do things."

Harry resolved to ask Ron about the broadcast- thing later, filing it away to the back of his mind. He hadn't known that trials were broadcasted.

"Are you still going to take the witness stand for the last trials, Harry?" Remus asked from where he was sat next to the current Minister for Magic.

"I was planning to," Harry nodded. Next to him, Ron made a noise of protest.

"You're going to testify in the Malfoy trials?" he sputtered.

"I am," Harry answered calmly, having not told his friend about this before because he knew the temper his best friend possessed when it came to the Malfoys.

"_Why?_"

Harry turned to face his friend. "Justice, of course."

* * *

><p>"I think you have a problem, Harry."<p>

The raven haired wizard looked up from his cup of steaming hot coffee, the Lima Bean emblem painted on the side.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he answered Hermione with a little grin on his face. Ron snorted, a glass of lemonade in his hands. Harry wasn't sure if a lot of sugar was a good idea either, but McGonagall hadn't forbidden lemonade so he wasn't going to say anything.

"That's your fifth cup of coffee, mate. You've been up for four hours."

"Besides," Hermione continued," I thought you didn't drink coffee. Something about it being 'evil and sludge- like', if I recall correctly."

Harry shrugged. "Tea just wasn't cutting it anymore."

Hermione pulled a sympathetic face. "Nightmares?"

"Not so much, anymore," Harry denied. "Teddy's teething and keeping us awake at night. He's quite the screamer."

Ron chuckled and opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by a rather loud voice near his ear, causing him to jump up in his chair a bit.

"Harry! I didn't know you like to come here. We could have had our study sessions here!"

"Hi Rachel," Harry waved weakly as she pulled up a chair and sat down. "Join us, why don't you?"

"Thanks!," she beamed, waving Mercedes over from where she was looking around for her friend. "Who are your friends?"

"These are friends of mine from back home. They came over for a weekend visit. Rachel Berry, meet Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley."

"A pleasure," Hermione and Ron chorused, nodding at Mercedes and repeating the introductions as she joined them.

"Aren't you a long way from home?" Mercedes asked the twosome. Ron shrugged.

"Yeah, I s'pose," he answered. "Couldn't go too long without seeing our Harry though."

Rachel looked like she fought the urge to 'aww'. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Actually," the brunette witch said, "we brought your school records with us too, Harry. I kind of forgot with all that was going on at your place. It should make more sense to the board at your new school then the list of exams you gave them when you transferred in. Headmistress McGonagall sends her regrets that she couldn't send them sooner."

"Brilliant," Harry answered. "No regrets needed, though. The biscuits more than make up for that."

Ron had the grace to look slightly sheepish: "Actually, you took so long getting dressed…"

Harry snorted, while Rachel looked a bit affronted. "How many of them are left?"

Ron shrugged. "I didn't count them, mate."

"By the way, why _were_ you still in bed when we got there? It was ten o'clock, you're usually up by then," Hermione asked.

Mercedes and Rachel winced in sympathy.

"Though luck, Harry," Mercedes said, Rachel nodding beside her.

"Puck threw a pre- Halloween party yesterday," Harry answered, "And I didn't get to sleep till about six this morning."

"Oh, sorry about that, then," Hermione said. Ron, who had snorted at the name 'Puck', grinned at him.

"Have fun then, mate?"

"Well, I should hope so," Rachel answered for him, cutting off whatever Harry was about to say, "We all had fun."

"You're forgetting that he spent most of the night in the closet, Rachel," Mercedes cut in. Hermione and Ron eyed Harry with confusion in their eyes.

"Looking for monsters, were you, mate?" Ron joked, though his eyes asked if that had really been the case. Rachel giggled.

"Oh no, of course not. Everyone knows there's no such thing as monsters," Rachel answered. Harry briefly flashed back to his uncle yelling "_There's no such thing as magic!"_ just before his eleventh birthday. He tried not to grin. Boy, would Rachel be in for a shock. Monsters were, of course, very much real.

"Unless you count Kurt as a monster," Mercedes grinned next to her. Harry fought the urge to groan.

Hermione's eyes suddenly seemed to glitter. Ron threw Harry a _'you're screwed, mate_' look. Harry lost the battle with his groan, allowing it to escape through his lips. Hermione took no notice:

"Oh really? Do tell."

* * *

><p><strong>Please let me know what you thought. Your reviews and PM's mean the world to me.<strong>

**Till next time!**

**-Robin.**


	14. Out with a Bark

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter fourteen: Out with a Bark **

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Hi all! This one's a bit earlier than last time. By about two weeks. Not that that's saying much, but still. I'm rather pleased with myself about it. My schedule's still crazy hectic and I want to thank you all for putting up with me. I'm running in every single possible direction I can think of at the moment to get all the work I need done, done so that I can work on things I like as well. Like writing fics. Unfortunately, my Summer holiday's won't start till July twenty-fifth or somewhere around that time, so you're going to have to bear with me for just a little while longer.**

**Of course: Thank you all a bunch for all your reviews, and alerts and favourites. You guys are amazing, even when I suck at updating. Thank you all so much! I love you guys.**

**Finally, the big reveal! Enjoy and don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of it ^^**

* * *

><p>Two days after the surprise visit from Kingsley, Ron and Hermione and one day after the full moon, Harry entered McKinley High with a sense of impending doom pressing on his shoulders. It didn't matter how sure Kingsley was that revealing the world would turn out a- okay, Harry still had his doubts. Especially if the last War Trials would really be broadcasted on television. He would have had a small chance of being able to pull off denying he was a wizard, but not if his face was going to be seen in every living room across the world.<p>

Getting his books from his locker, Harry decided to just play ignorant for the time being. The Trials weren't for another two or three months at the least and he was determined to make the best of the time he still had left as being another anonymous face in the crowd.

"Hi Harry!" Kurt's voice suddenly sounded next to his ear.

The wizard turned around swiftly, not having heard him creep up on him. He smiled at seeing him there though. If anyone could take his mind of the press conference that would be given later that day, it was Kurt. Whom he still hadn't asked out on a proper date. Best rectify that soon, then.

"Hey Kurt," he smiled in response. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Kurt smiled back. Harry absentmindedly noticed that something in his smile had changed since the last time he had seen him at Puck's party. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, though. "Stressing out a bit about the wedding, though."

Harry chuckled. "I somehow gathered that from the million wedding- related texts you sent me over the weekend, yeah."

Kurt smiled a bit sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't be, I didn't mind," Harry responded. "Everything will work out fine, though. You're an amazing wedding planner. Your father and his fiancé won't know what hit them."

"What if I screw something up, though?"

"You won't. You've got everything planned down to the very last glass of alcohol- free beer. It's just two more days, there isn't much that can go wrong till then. I mean, except from one of the Glee Club members falling down and breaking a leg or losing their voice or something."

Kurt's eyes widened. Harry hurried to amend his words:

"Which they won't. Seriously, everything will be fine. As long as you didn't actually get those pigeons. You didn't, did you?"

Kurt grinned. "I didn't. I've seen the error of my thinking."

"Good. 'Cause that would've been hard to explain to the RSPCA."

* * *

><p>At half past two in the afternoon, right when Harry was getting sick of Rachel nattering on at him about the importance of English literature in the modern day world, the school's intercom made a foreboding crackling noise, followed by a <em>ding<em> and some mismatched tunes which were probably supposed to sound like some sort of school jingle.

"School, may I have your attention please?" the heavily accented voice of their principal (Harry hadn't referred to him as their 'Headmaster' since Puck made a crude joke about which head he was supposedly the master of) spoke.

In the back of the room, Brett startled awake and Kurt and Mike stopped their revision of the choreography for the wedding. Reluctantly, Rachel stopped talking. Harry would've breathed a sigh of relief if he didn't have a pretty good idea about the announcement that was about to be made.

"The teachers will now turn on the T.V.'s in the classrooms for an important message from the president of the United States," principal Figgins continued, sounding as if he was reading his lines from where he had written them down. Next to Harry, Rachel turned to look at him with a questioning look in her eyes. Harry shrugged, pretending to have no clue what was going on either.

Their teacher (and old woman whose name Harry had forgotten the second he had heard it) turned on the ancient television set in front of the classroom and returned to reading her paper, not even the tiniest bit curious about the announcement that was about to be made.

On the television screen, the face of the president appeared. Next to him stood Kingsley Shackebolt and a few steps behind him was (to Harry's great amusement) Percy Weasley who was continuously straightening his tie and looking mighty uncomfortable in his muggle suit while still trying to look important. Harry sincerely hoped Ron would get to see this. Harry briefly wondered about the lack of an American Minister for Magic, but then remembered Hermione explaining to him that there hadn't been an American Ministry for Magic since the Salem Witch Trials.

"_My fellow Americans,"_ the president began, _"Today me and my colleagues stand before you with a confession. For many, many years now there has been a secret kept from all of you. Today we are here to come clean."_

In the back of the room, Brett mumbled something about area 51, whatever that was. Rachel was at the edge of her seat. Harry didn't dare look around to see what Kurt was thinking. Privately, Harry thought this was a horrible was to start a press statement. Telling everyone they've been lied to for years, fresh off the bat? Like people wouldn't protest to that immediately. He tuned in to the speech again.

"…_.over the last few decades have not been the work of terrorists. At least, not the terrorists as we know them. I stand before you now, of sound mind – though my wife might protest to that from time to time-_ (No one laughed. The president scraped his throat awkwardly, his attempt at humour going ignored) _to declare that this was the work of magic users. And I'm not talking Siegfried and Roy or Houdini either. This is the real deal. For millennia magic users, or witches and wizards as they call themselves, have lived alongside us in our world-"_

Behind Harry, Kurt snorted in disbelief. Harry's heart plummeted.

"…_. And to show you that I am not in fact ready to be committed into the nearest mental hospital, my colleague Minister Shackebolt from the British Ministry for Magic would like a word."_

Harry watched as Kingsley took a step forward towards the microphone, shaking the president's hand as he went. Harry was impressed by Kingsley's cool demeanour. If it had been him up there he would have shat himself, he was sure of it. As Kingsley started explaining the workings of the magical world, the war they had fought over the last few decades, how magical schooling worked and what _exactly_ the word 'muggle' meant, Harry tuned him out and looked around him to take in the reactions of the people in the room. Somewhere in the back in his head he noted that this was probably the first time there wasn't a sound to be heard in the whole of McKinley High.

Next to him, Rachel looked as if she wanted to crawl into the television set so she could be at the press conference to ask questions. It was a look he remembered seeing on Hermione on more than one occasion. In front of him, their teacher still pretended to read the paper, but her eyes were peaking over the top. A glance behind him showed Brett in pretty much the same position as Rachel was in. Mike seemed very interested as well, drinking in everything Kingsley was saying. Next to Mike, Kurt's face had transformed from disbelieving to grudging curiosity. Harry hoped he'd come around to like the idea of Magic.

While Harry was taking in the expressions of the people around him, Kingsley had rounded up his summary of the backstory of the Wizarding world.

"_Are there any questions at this time?"_ he asked. Harry resisted the urge to snort when every single press agent present started waving their hands in the air and shouting questions. Kingsley seemed to realise his error: _"Alright, one at a time. You, with the pink hairband."_

"_Caroline Ashwood, Washington Post," _the woman answered, _"Why come forward now? After all, you've managed to keep hidden for so long."_

"_Excellent question Ms Ashwood," _Kingsley answered her, _"we feel that the world has come to be more accepting than it has ever been before. There have been times when even being suspected of witchcraft was enough to send the person in question to the stake. We have high hopes that that won't happen now."_

Harry thought that was a smart move. Seemingly putting the faith of the Wizarding world in the hands of the muggles, so that they'd start feeling responsible when something did happened. When, not if. Something would surely happen, as it does with every big change to a society.

"_But what if it does?"_ a rather chubby looking man shouted at Kingsley. "_Mark Portly, The Daily Mail."_

Kingsley shrugged, looking for all the world as if he wasn't at all concerned by that prospect. _"Then we'll just disappear again. Try again in a few hundred years. Any more questions?"_

"_Yeah! Richard Jones, Daily Express," _a dark skinned man in a sweater vest shouted, _"Do you really expect us to believe this bullshit? There's no such thing as magic!"_

Harry closed his eyes, briefly flashing back to a few weeks before his eleventh birthday when his uncle had said the exact same words to him after he had helped a boa constrictor escape from the zoo. On the television, Kingsley smirked. _"Percy, if you would?"_

"_Certainly, minister," _the third oldest Weasley son said before pulling his wand from where it had been sheathed up his sleeve. The press agents in the front rows backed up a little, recognising the slender piece of wood for the magic tool it was after Kingsley's explanation. _"Mister President, could I perhaps borrow your jacket for a second?"_

The president nodded congenially before shrugging off his jacket and handing it over to Percy. Harry dimly noted that the red- haired wizard was enjoying his moment in the spotlight just a little too much. Percy waved his wand in a pattern Harry vaguely recognised from Transfiguration (and immediately decided that if his recollection of spells was really that vague he should really practise magic more), muttered a spell and tapped the jacket. Or was used to be the president's jacket. For Percy was now holding a dark brown Labrador puppy by the scruff of his neck. The press agents 'aww- ed' , though the president seemed to be a bit concerned about his jacket.

Behind Harry, Kurt sucked in a breath of air:

"Holy shit."

Harry smirked into his hand. Score one for Team Magic.

* * *

><p><strong>Please let me know what you thought. Your reviews and PM's mean the world to me. <strong>

**Except, of course, when all you do is flame on the plot. I really don't care for those. The plot is the plot, and I won't change it because you don't like it. If you don't like it, just stop reading the story and write a better one yourself. Seriously, stop PMing me about how you hate the plot. **

**Till next time!**

**-Robin.**


	15. Fragments of a Day

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter fifteen: Fragments of a Day**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: You guys…. Wow. I can't believe the response to the last chapter! You guys are seriously amazing! 72 reviews for a single chapter? That's incredible.**

**Thank you guys so much for your reviews, PMs, alerts and favourites! You guys rock.**

**Here's the next chapter. I apologise for it taking so long, but I've been incredibly busy with studying for my exams (Which I still should be doing in fact…. Woops) so I can round of the year.**

**Enjoy! Let me know what you thought?**

* * *

><p>Glee club that day was brutal. Well, actually, the half an hour leading up to Glee club was, seeing as Mr Schuester was running late. Again. Harry briefly felt the urge to buy the man a watch for Christmas, but quickly abandoned the thought because he didn't know if it was appropriate for a student to buy their teacher a gift.<p>

With the exception of Quinn and Mercedes (who seemed to be discussing amongst themselves in upset, harsh whispers) everyone was talking in loud, excited voices, voicing their thoughts about the press release that had happened only an hour before. Most teachers had given up on teaching after the television sets had been turned off, recognising a lost cause when they saw it. Harry wondered if he could still sneak out of the choir room without being noticed.

"No, now all of you shut up for a second!," Santana's voice sounded through the room. Surprisingly, everyone obeyed, albeit some –_Rachel-_ grudgingly. "Why don't we all just talk about this calmly instead of shouting to be heard?"

Harry was a bit impressed, not having expected a sound idea like that from the girl. He noticed Brittany leaning into her a bit, though her feet were still firmly in Artie's lap. Santana shot the feet a glare before straightening her face out again. Was there something going on there? Whatever, not the time to think about things like that. A few seats down, Sam spoke up:

"I think it's pretty awesome. I want to be able to do magic, how cool would that be?"

"Dude," Puck nodded while flexing his biceps. "Then I'd have some magic tricks to back up these guns."

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Next to him, Kurt wasn't as forgiving.

"Me, I'm more curious about how all the magical people managed to stay hidden for so long," Lauren said while trying to appear innocent. "Who know how many witches are at this school _right now_."

With her last few words she looked at Harry, who shot her a very unimpressed look back. Two could play at that game.

"Don't be silly," he threw back. "Magical people our age would be in magical schools, now wouldn't they? They've got no business here."

His reasoning seemed to sway most of them and Lauren crossed her arms over her chest with a small huff. Harry threw her a victorious smirk.

"Magic school must be awesome," Finn said in awe. "Flying around –do you think they actually fly on _brooms?_ 'Cause that's got to hurt, man- making potions, changing stuff into other stuff. Sounds amazing."

_Not to mention dangerous beasts, evil teachers, ghost teachers, giant serpents on the prowl, big ass spiders in the forest and a giant squid in the lake_, Harry offered in his head. If he thought about it for too long, it did kind of sound like some sort of fantasy novel story. Now all he needed was a love interest that he could rescue from something evil. _Oh, wait. Been there, done that._

"Do you think magic people would know how to fix me?" Artie's voice sounded, his soft spoken question silencing everyone else immediately. Harry felt for the boy. It would make sense that the wheelchair bound boy would feel hope grow inside of him at the thought of magic. Unfortunately, Harry also knew that nothing could be done for the boy. If there had been someone magical present when the accident had happened they could have tried to help him or they could have rushed him off to the nearest magical hospital, but even then the chances of a full recovery would have been minimal since the healing magic used for large scaled remedies like fixing a broken back need a responding magical core to latch on to. At best, the boy would have been on crutches for the rest of his life instead of in his wheelchair, with minimal toe movement.

"How about you send that question in to the Ministry?" Tina suggested. "That British minister said that there'd be another conference on Friday for questions from the public. I think this deserves a spot in there."

Artie nodded. "Yeah, I think I'll do that."

"Don't be too disappointed if it turns out they can't help you, though," Mike said, "I'm sure there's even a limit to magic. It only makes sense."

"Besides," Kurt said when Artie started to look downtrodden, "There's nothing there to really fix. You're not broken."

Harry smiled at the boy next to him, really liking the kind, sympathetic part of Kurt. The girls around them nodded their approval of what he said. For a few moments, the choir room was silent. Unfortunately this only lasted until their teacher came sprinting into the room, apologising for being late again as he went. Harry was more than ready to forgive him for being late (he was actually starting to be amused by the man's constant tardiness) when he started to write the week's theme on the whiteboard. The word 'MAGIC' was written on the board in big, bold letters.

Harry groaned. This was going to be a long week.

* * *

><p>"Harry? What are you doing here?"<p>

On the inside, Harry was doing a little victory dance on having been able to surprise Kurt. Of course, if someone shows up on your doorstep right before dinner time dressed to the nines and holding a single red rose surprise would be the most reasonable emotion to jump to.

"Kidnapping you of course," the raven- haired wizard grinned back at the boy in the doorway. "I'm taking you out on that date I promised you."

"_Now?"_ Kurt nearly squeaked. Harry swore he could hear someone chuckling in a room near the hall.

"No, I thought I'd get all gussied up, bring you a flower and ask you to go for a date _next week_," he answered, teasingly rolling his eyes. "Yes, now."

"But I can't," Kurt said, looking over his shoulder into the house. "Dad, Carole, Finn and I are going out for dinner as a pre- wedding bonding experience."

"No you're not," Kurt's dad suddenly sounded from the next room. Kurt jumped a bit, while Harry grinned. "Go with the kid, we'll manage without you."

Harry wasn't sure if he really liked being referred to as 'the kid', but he figured he would take what he could get. Kurt looked affronted at what his dad just said. Before he could get worked up over it, Harry said:

"There is no pre- wedding bonding dinner. I just wanted to surprise you and your dad was kind enough to go along with it."

_After being plied with a basket of triple chocolate muffins and getting to threaten me with shotgun, that is,_ Harry thought, not daring to say the words out loud. He wasn't sure how serious Mr Hummel had been when he was talking about his shotgun.

"Besides," Harry airily continued, "You're already dressed since you were expecting to go out anyways, so we can go. If you want to, of course."

"Of course I want to go," Kurt hastily answered. "But these are not first- date clothes. These are getting- to- know- your- new- family- clothes. There's a big difference."

Harry smiled. "You look perfect to me."

"Liar," Kurt huffed, but a small smile was fighting to gain a place around his lips. "Fine, I'll go like this."

"Brilliant," Harry breathed, before handing over the rose. "Here. I didn't know what your favourite flower was, so I just guessed."

"It's beautiful, thank you," Kurt said, accepting the rose. "For future reference, though, my favourite flower is the lily- of- the- valley."

"Gotcha," Harry grinned, before offering his arm which Kurt took. "Your carriage awaits, my lord."

Kurt chuckled and started to close the door behind him. Before they walked off to Harry's car, Burt's voice sounded behind them one more time: "Home by eleven!"

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><p>When they were finally seated at their table at Breadstix ("I still can't believe this is the fanciest place in Lima," Harry had huffed when they got out of the car. "I'm sure I've overlooked a place." – Kurt had immediately insured him he hadn't) after the waitress guiding them to their table had given them the stink eye the entire time, Kurt relaxed.<p>

"I've never actually been on a date before," he confessed after they had given their order to the waitress. Harry hoped she wouldn't spit in their food.

"I have," Harry answered regretfully, the thought of a tea date at the most horrid tea shop to have ever existed floating to the front of his mind. "It was a nightmare though. Absolutely hellish."

"Oh?" Kurt asked, an eyebrow expertly poised.

"Yes, and I'm not telling you about it. Living through it was horrendous enough, thank you very much."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

Harry looked at him with a blank look on his face. "It was."

They fell into easy conversation after that, only pausing in their chatter to eat their – thankfully spit-free- food and share small smiles. When the bill came, Harry picked it up, ignoring Kurt's protests and knowing that the brunette was secretly pleased.

"I still can't believe you drive a Mini Cooper," Kurt commented when they got in the vehicle to get Kurt home on time. Harry snorted.

"Yeah, Remus' idea of a joke."

"I hope you got him back," Kurt grinned. Harry took his eyes of the road for a second to smirk at him.

"Sure did. I gave him a complex about his moustache in return."

Kurt laughed. "That is terrible!"

Harry just shrugged, knowing Kurt wasn't done talking yet. And sure enough: "It's a horrible moustache, though."

"That it is."

When Harry dropped Kurt off at home, he walked him to his door. He pretended not to see that Kurt's dad and soon to be stepfamily were trying to be very inconspicuous about glancing out of the window to see what he would do. Kurt's cheeks turned a lovely pink.

"Are you kidding me?" he hissed at Harry. "They don't do this when Finn comes back from a date with Rachel!"

Harry chuckled. "Your dad's just worried about you. I think it's sweet."

A small smile made its way onto Kurt's face. "I suppose it is. Thanks for tonight, Harry. I had an amazing time."

"My pleasure," Harry answered softly. They had reached the door by now. Harry quirked an eye at seeing the shotgun Kurt's dad had threatened him with propped against the hallway door inside.

"Oh for fuck's sake…" Kurt muttered upon seeing the same thing. He briefly pinched the bridge of his nose and started to defend his family: "I swear we're not crazy hillbillies with a penchant for rifles."

Harry laughed. "It's quite alright."

"No, really, I'm going to have to have a talk with my dad about this. This is just-"

Whatever it was he never got a chance to say, because Harry took advantage of the moment to shut him up with his lips quite spectacularly. Kurt almost immediately went slack against him. Harry ran a hand over Kurt's cheek softly before pulling away.

"If I had known it would have been that easy to shut you up, I would've done it ages ago."

"Shut up, Harry."

But no matter Kurt's biting response, there was a smile on his face as he slipped inside the house. Harry left with a small spring in his step.

* * *

><p>The next day, Harry walked into a gym in Westerville with a rucksack slung over his shoulders. It was the closest gym to his home he could find, since there were apparently not other gyms than the one in McKinley in the whole of Lima. Remus had suggested he get some of the excess energy he had built up in him from not using a lot of magic since arriving in America out of his system by exercising. Harry had loved the idea, and here he was.<p>

He quickly got changed into the sportswear he kept in his rucksack and walked out into the gym to see what caught his eyes. The fitness equipment seemed to repetitive to fascinate him for a long time and he didn't really fancy playing a team sport right now either. He decided to try some fighting, since it was something he could do on his own with a punching bag, or with just one partner if he needed to. That, and he thought he had gotten a little rusty since the war ended.

He walked into the boxing room and immediately noticed the smell of sweat that hung in the room. Determined not to let it bother him, he looked around. There were two men sparring in one ring, a man getting his butt kicked by a woman in another ring, some people were using a skipping rope to exercise, and others were punching the stuffing out of punching bags. With varying degrees of success. Harry quickly noticed that he wouldn't be able to use the punching bags by himself. They hung too loose for that and he didn't much fancy taking a punching bag to the face. A few feet away from him, there was a young man who was doing just that, though, and Harry went over to him.

"Do you need a spotter?" he asked, and the guy stopped in his punching. He pushed back the sweaty, black curls that had been plastered to his forehead and looked up at him.

"That would be great, actually," he said. Harry took place behind the bag, holding it in place.

"Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you around," the guy asked.

"I moved to Lima a few months back," Harry shrugged. "Not much to do there in the way of exercising though, I'm afraid. I'm Harry, by the way."

The boy grinned. "I'm Blaine."

* * *

><p><strong>Liked it? Loved it? Hated it? Don't hesitate to let me know!<strong>

**Till next time,**

**-Robin.**


	16. The Blaine Thing

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter sixteen: The Blaine Thing**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: You guys…. Wow. I can't believe the response to the last chapter! You guys are seriously amazing, even though I completely suck. I wanted to have this up way sooner, but life got in the way. **

**For those of you who are interested: I had to finish op the school year with nearly a month full of exams, which exhausted my mental capacities like you wouldn't believe. Finally, at the end of July I got the all-clear and was free to enjoy my one month vacation. Such is the life of a university student. Ah well.**

**Also, I kinda maybe sorta definitely met someone and fell in serious like during that time (love's too big of a word just yet) and we spent a lot of time together during which I didn't really think of anything else. Besides, I figured I owed myself a little break from my laptop. Which is now punishing my absence by freaking out like a little bitch.**

**About the Blaine/Harry/Kurt questions I've been getting: This is not, nor was it ever going to be, a threesome fic. I'm not against the pairing, but this was never intended to be a Blurty (as I've dubbed the threesome pairing) fic. More about that in the chapter.**

**Okay, long author's note was long. Go on and read the chapter, ya scoundrels. Enjoy!**

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><p>"I'd say it was a success," Harry idly mentioned while the last of the wedding guests were leaving the venue. "My feet might beg to differ, though."<p>

"Your feet shouldn't whine," Kurt replied while running a hand through his immaculately done hair. It bounced right back into place. Harry decided he didn't want to know how much hairspray had gone in there.

"No, I'm with the midget," Puck cut in before Harry could respond. The wizard decided he didn't much mind the insult if it meant Puck was agreeing with him. "My feet are killing me."

Kurt huffed and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Santana, who chose that time to sit down in Puck's lap ( Ignoring both his protests and Lauren's evil glare) and say: "Shut it Hummel, I don't think I'm going to be able to walk straight for two days."

"You are weak, all of you," Rachel said, taking a seat in Finn's lap. "And you call yourselves performers."

"Hummel, control your girlfriend," Santana told Finn, all the while glaring at Rachel. Finn looked at her confusedly, then turned to his brand new stepbrother:

"Dude, is my name Hummel now?"

"Of course not, Finn," Kurt replied. "You're still Finn Hudson. I thought Carole talked to you about that?"

Finn shrugged. "Probably."

Harry couldn't have stopped his chuckle if he had wanted to. He predicted many exasperating moments for Kurt while his dad and stepmother were on their honeymoon. And he didn't even need a crystal ball to do so, either. _Eat that, Trelawney._

* * *

><p>"Remind me again why we're having coffee in Columbus, even though neither one of us lives here?", Blaine asked over the rim of his medium drip.<p>

"I don't think I told you why we're having coffee here, so your question is invalid," Harry grinned before trying his hazelnut coffee. Not bad, though he would have preferred something a little stronger after having had only five hours of sleep the night before.

"I know that," Blaine sighed, "That was me politely reminding you of the fact that you pretty much kidnapped me from the gym and drove me here in a small clown car without telling me why. All of which could have been pretty scary, if I didn't know I could flip you over my shoulder easily."

Harry narrowed his eyes at him. "You were only able to do that once. And I wasn't even paying attention at the time."

Blaine shrugged. "Why are we here, Harry?"

"I need new shoes," the raven- haired boy answered, " and I don't trust Kurt not to drag me around the mall for hours because the colour of them isn't the exact shade he has in mind."

Blaine snorted. "So I'm the next logical choice?"

"Pretty much," Harry shrugged.

Blaine rolled his eyes, before throwing back the rest of his coffee. Harry looked at him in wonder. He had nearly burned his tongue on his own coffee not a minute before. How the hell had Blaine done that? Blaine stood up and threw his empty cup away.

"Are you coming then? I need to be back at school before curfew."

* * *

><p>"Nice shoes, Harry!", Tina beamed at him before walking into the choir room at McKinley.<p>

"Thanks, Tina," Harry smiled after her. Next to him, Kurt paused in his steps and looked down at Harry's feet.

"Those _are_ nice," he said, before narrowing his eyes. "Have you had them long? I think I would have remembered them if you did."

"I got them after school yesterday," Harry answered while walking into the choir room, "While you were in your arts and crafts group. I drove out to Columbus with Blaine. He helped me loads with picking them out."

"Who's Blaine?" Kurt asked casually as he took his seat beside Harry.

"Hmm? Oh, Blaine's a friend of mine," Harry answered distractedly while looking through his bag for his phone. "We met at the gym."

"Oh," Kurt answered non- committedly before settling in to watch Puck's performance of his interpretation of the week's theme, which was still 'Magic'. Harry turned his head to look at his sort- of- boyfriend ( _and wow, he really needed to clarify the label they were putting on themselves with Kurt)_ in confusion.

"Is something wrong?" he asked Kurt quietly, deciding he didn't much like the way Kurt was avoiding his eyes.

"Of course not," Kurt whispered back. "Why would something be wrong? Now shush and watch Noah perform. He's not completely terrible today."

* * *

><p>Harry really shouldn't have been as surprised as he was when Kurt showed up at the gym when he was working out the next night. Or the night after that. Or the night after <em>that<em>. After three nights of having to see Blaine watch him in amusement while his boyfr, no, his very good friend who he sometimes liked to snog and cuddle with, no. -While his Kurt read a fashion magazine from the side and steadfastly ignored the stink eye he got whenever one of the older men there looked at him, Harry decided he had had enough.

"Kurt, can we talk for a bit?", he asked after having successfully brought Blaine to the ground by flipping him in some complicated manoeuvre he was sure he could never pull off again (and, okay, rubbing it in Blaine's face for a bit).

Kurt looked up and nodded, blindly reaching for his bedazzled bookmark and placing it between the pages he was reading in that day's magazine. Kurt didn't dog ear his pages, he bookmarked them. And he had gotten quite tetchy when Harry pointed out the sparkle- factor of the bookmark, so Harry hadn't mentioned it since then.

"Sure," Kurt responded and patted the spot next to him on the bench. While he walked over and Blaine left to shower, Harry couldn't help but notice how distinctly out of place he looked, all prim and pristine on top of a towel so that his carefully picked out clothes didn't get any sweat stains on them from whoever had occupied that bench before him. Harry sat down next to him.

"What are you doing here, Kurt?", the wizard asked his… Kurt after a few seconds of floundering to find the right words.

The countertenor –yes, Harry had managed to learn the proper names for all things music related thanks to Kurt (and, surprisingly, Remus who could really jam on a guitar as it turned out)- sighed and answered: "I might have been a little bit jealous when you mentioned you went shopping with a guy friend I had never heard about before. I wanted to check him out to see if, you know, he was a threat or something."

Harry secretly loved the way Kurt's eyelashes lowered and his cheeks flushed. "Why would Blaine be a threat?"

"Because," Kurt forced out, flushing even darker. A little ways further on Blaine left the locker room, then quickly backtracked on tiptoes when he noticed they weren't done talking yet. Harry would have laughed at any other time, but he didn't want to give Kurt the feeling he was laughing at him, so he restrained himself. Kurt continued: "Because I really like you, and I know we didn't talk about _us_ yet, and if there even _is_ an us, but I kind of think there might be, I mean you kissed me right? And then you went _shopping _with a gay guy I don't know and I guess I got foggy brained or something. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Harry smiled. "I get that you felt that way. To be honest, I've been confused out of my mind by all that too."

"You have?"

"Of course. But trust me when I say that Blaine is not a threat to us. And also trust me on there actually being an 'us'. At least, I'd like there to be. I've been calling you 'my Kurt' in my head for lack of a better word-" Kurt let out a short laugh at that "- and I'd really like it if I could change that into 'Kurt, my boyfriend' instead. What do you say?"

The flush on Kurt's cheeks started to fade a little. "I'd be agreeable to that," he responded, "On the condition you tell me when you go shopping with someone that's not me so I can punch you for it in advance."

Harry grinned. "I promise."

"Good," Kurt said before leaning in to kiss him, "boyfriend."

Harry closed the gap between them, both of them ignoring Blaine's quiet 'Is it safe to come out now?' as they were just a little too wrapped up in each other to care.

* * *

><p><strong>As always, don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts!<strong>

**Till next time,**

**-Robin.**


	17. How Teddy Spilled the Beans

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter seventeen: How Teddy Spilled the Beans**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: So…. I suck. It's been way too long since I've updated and I'm sorry. Life got in the way. And not in the nice 'yay, life!' kind of way either, if that's even a thing. **

**So, let's see… my relationship blew up quite spectacularly, I was sick and on medication for over a month, school is seriously demanding this semester, my internship is the internship from hell and my mum had to have some serious surgery two weeks ago, leaving her in a shitload of pain and me with a household to run. Oh, and I got a part-time job. I've been kind of busy.**

**My update- schedule is most likely going to remain sucky (but let's call it 'artistically surprising', okay? Sounds nicer) for a bit longer, but I promise that I will finish this story. I will.**

**Still, even though I've been absent for a bit, you guys haven't! Every day I keep getting e-mails telling me someone favourites the story or put it on an alert list or something. You guys are amazing, really.**

**TL;DR: I suck, life suck, you guys rock. On with the story.**

**So, enjoy the chapter and let me know what you thought of it. The review button isn't that hard to find.**

* * *

><p>"... and the look on her face, Harry! It was just <em>priceless<em>. I can't believe we didn't think of awesome Halloween costumes like this before!"

Harry leaned back against the kitchen counter, shifting his phone from his left to his right ear.

"To be fair, mate," Harry responded. "We have been a bit preoccupied with fighting a Dark Lord and all that."

"True," Ron answered, after having thought this over for a bit. "But still. A first year actually _fainted_."

Harry barked out a laugh, turning a bit so he could keep an eye on Teddy who was eying the crayons he was colouring with a bit to mischievously for his tastes.

"That actually kind of horrible, Ron," he said eventually. Ron snorted on the other end of the line.

"That's what Hermione said. Seamus high-fived me for it though."

"As he would," Harry agreed with a hum. He turned away from Teddy for a second to place the mug he had been drinking tea from when Ron called in the dishwasher. She (for Harry and Remus had decided that the dishwasher was indeed a she) thanked him happily.

"Anyway, " he continued, turning back around, "Remus and I were thinking- ah, _shit_."

"Something wrong, mate?" Ron asked.

"I lost Teddy," Harry despondently answered, sighing to himself. His eyes travelled around the kitchen. Teddy was not in his chair, nor was he hiding under the table. He wasn't standing behind the kitchen door and he hadn't hidden behind the fridge again, either.

"Shouldn't you go looking for him then?" Ron reasoned. Belatedly, Harry realised he still had the phone to his ear.

"Yeah, I should," he answered. "Don't worry, though. This happens more often than we'd like to admit. I'll call you later."

Harry hung up and put his phone on the counter. Something was off. It took him another two sweeps of the kitchen to figure out what it was. Not only had Teddy gone, but he had taken his crayons with him. This did not bode well for him and Remus. Or their furniture.

* * *

><p>"Whoa dude, what happened to you shirt?"<p>

Harry closed his locker, leaning against it so he could look up to the giant that was Kurt's stepbrother. He regretted not changing out of his crayon- stained shirt, but he had run out of time after finding Teddy (or rather, being found _by_ Teddy, who had leapt from the stairs with his crayons stretched out between his fingers while shouting "Woooolveriiiine!". Harry had caught the boy mid- flight, ending up with a shirt stained with crayon marks. When Remus came back from his early morning grocery shopping he had only chuckled at the story. "Takes after his old man, this one," he had said.) and had had to make do with what he had on.

"Nothing much," he answered Finn. "Had to wrestle some crayons away from Teddy, is all."

"Yeah, I can kinda tell. Did Kurt see you yet?"

"No, not yet," Harry said. "I ran a bit late this morning, so I texted him not to wait for me."

"Oh, okay. Prepare for fussing when he catches up with you. Even I can see your shirt looks a mess," Finn said. "And that's saying something, 'cause I sometimes can't remember if I've already worn a shirt when I pick it off the floor."

And with that Finn was gone, leaving Harry to wonder what kind of slob actually just _left their clothes on the floor_ after wearing them. Or after having not worn them. Whichever.

Finn's prediction came through shortly before lunch.

"What the Prada happened to your shirt?" Kurt asked when he caught up with him on his way to lunch.

Harry raised his eyebrow at him. "Forget the shirt. 'What the Prada'?"

Kurt blushed. "I caught myself cursing twice yesterday. I figured I had to find substitutes before my dad decides you're a bad influence on me or something."

"Makes sense, I suppose," Harry responded after thinking it over. "I didn't realise I curse so much, though."

"Like a sailor," his boyfriend confirmed with a nod. "But, seriously, we need to do something about that shirt. You look like an insane clown."

Harry grinned. "And here I was thinking that was just your type."

"Shut up and get in the bathroom."

* * *

><p>"Is that some new fashion statement I should know about?"<p>

Harry paused his redressing for a moment. "I really wish people would stop commenting on my shirt," he finally said before pulling the aforementioned shirt over his head. Kurt's fussing hadn't helped the shirt in the least. Harry suspected (but didn't dare voice this out loud) that he had in fact only made the stains worse.

Blaine looked up from where he was busy tying his shoelaces. "Then don't wear it. That clown- from- a- horror- flick look is just begging to be commented on."

"That's what Kurt said."

"Your boyfriend is a wise young man, indeed," Blaine replied, straightening up and reaching for his jar of hair gel.

Harry narrowed his eyes at him. "You've gotten mouthier since I met you, haven't you?"

Blaine's reflection grinned at him while applying more hair gel than could be healthy.

"What can I say?" He shrugged. "You've been rubbing of on me. "

Harry groaned. "Please don't say that around Kurt."

"I'll try not to," Blaine said while screwing the lid on his gel back on. "Although it would be kind of fun to see him at practises again. He gets you all distracted. It's easier to get you on the floor like that."

"Cute," Harry responded, not impressed whatsoever. When he saw Blaine hesitating, he added: "You know, you could always call him to hang out or something. I'm sure he'd like that."

"You think so?" Blaine asked with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I'm sure you two will get along great. Hell, you know a lot more about Kurt's favourite conversation topics than I do, so I suppose you'll even be doing me a favour. He can talk clothes with you and cuddle with me."

Blaine snorted. "Cuddle, huh?"

"Oh, shut up," Harry said while zipping his bag. "Are you about done?"

"All packed and ready to go."

"Good," Harry said while shouldering his bag and holding the door open for his friend. "Let's get going then. Have you got any plans for tonight?"

It was Blaine's turn to groan. "Don't remind me, Wes called an emergency Warbler meeting for tonight. He's convinced the Hipsters must somehow have an edge on us or something. You?"

"That's rough, mate," Harry commented before replying as they walked out of the gym's doors: "Kurt's coming over for dinner tonight. We're cooking for Remus and Teddy and afterwards he's going to help me with my French and we can watch a movie or something."

"That sounds like a way better evening than mine," Blaine said, a hint of a pout in his voice.

"Yes," Harry said. "Yes, it sure does. I'll see you next time."

"Yeah, I'll text you when I'm heading here next, okay?"

"You do that. See you!"

* * *

><p>"Remus, do I cuss a lot?" Harry asked while inspecting the contents of the fridge. It looked like they were eating pasta, since Remus had forgotten to bring potatoes from the store.<p>

"Like an Auror," Remus confirmed, sitting at the kitchen table and reading the Evening Prophet.

"Huh."

The doorbell rang and Harry hurried over to the hallway, determinedly ignoring Remus' snicker behind him. He opened the door and stepped aside to let Kurt in, who he promptly hugged after he had set his bag down on the floor.

"Good to see you, too," Kurt laughed into his shoulder before letting go to get out of his coat. "I see you've changed shirts."

Harry looked down at the navy blue button- down shirt he was wearing instead of the white- and- crayon shirt from earlier. "Yes," he replied. "It's in the washer now. With a bit of luck it'll actually be clean when it comes out."

That was a bit of a lie, of course. The second Harry had gotten home, he had run upstairs to fetch his wand and clean his shirt. A quick _scourgify_ and the thing was as good as new. Kurt chuckled. "I think you'll need more than just a bit of luck to get that shirt clean."

"You never know," Harry shrugged, motioning to Kurt to lead the way to the kitchen. Kurt did so, walking into the kitchen and greeting Remus on his way there, who by now had migrated to the couch to read a book instead of a newspaper with moving pictures in it.

"It looks like we're having pasta for dinner," Harry said while pouring drinks for them (a coke for him and water for Kurt, since his boyfriend had mentioned that he would no longer drink soda's the day before) and sitting at the table with Kurt. "Remus forgot the potatoes and Teddy's not really old enough to appreciate rice yet."

At Kurt's raised eyebrow he elaborated: "He likes to think of them as teeny tiny missiles. I've already had to clean crayon of the walls today, I don't fancy cleaning of rice as well."

"I guess I can understand that," Kurt chuckled. "Come on, let's get to work then. I'm feeling a bit peckish."

And so they did. Harry chopped up the meat while Kurt busied himself with some spices and vegetables. They boiled some water, put in the pasta (shaped like Spongebob figurines. Harry insisted they were for Teddy. Kurt hadn't believed him.) and served dinner after setting the table. The four of them had dinner, chatted quite a bit and had a few good laughs. It all went rather well, Harry thought. The night wasn't over yet, though.

It was when they were busy rinsing the dishes in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher when Kurt suddenly stopped what he was doing and froze, his eyes locked somewhere to the side.

"Harry?" Kurt asked, his voice a bit shakier than it had been only moments before.

"Hmmm?"

"Teddy's hair wasn't blue a moment ago, was it?"

Well, _shit_.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there you have it folks. Let me know what you thought and, as always, I'll see you next time!<strong>

**-Robin.**


	18. Kurt Has Some Questions

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter eighteen: Kurt Has Some Questions**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: You guys, you guys! You lot made this story break over 500 reviews! I've been flailing around like a mad woman since I found out! You are amazing! I didn't think this story would even get over a 100 reviews when I started writing this, and here we are! You, my darlings, are simply fabulous.**

**Anyhoo, life is starting to pick up again. I did my quarterly exams, taught my pupils new and interesting things (or so I try and make them believe. There's nothing exciting about maths, really.), got food poisoning so I've been sick for a bit again (less yay) and I've been generally busy working and studying and stuff.**

**But here we are! Only two weeks since the last chapter (I say only because I'm proud of myself since it didn't take a month or more this time) and here's a fresh one.**

**Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think!**

* * *

><p>It took three hours of explaining, four cups of tea (that might have had just the tiniest bit of calming draught infused in it) and a bash of fresly baked chocolate muffins (though most of those seemed to have gone from the oven and into Remus' stomach) to get Kurt to calm down completely.<p>

At first, Kurt had been disbelieving. Then came the shock when one of the paintings had asked Harry if it was okay for them to talk again since Kurt knew about the existence of magic in the house now. Shock had turned into in fascinated listening at the abbreviated story of his life Harry had given him while Remus was busy trying to get Teddy to take a nap and had tapered of into weary acceptance when the carpet that held the coffee table had started floating.

"So, what you're telling me," the auburnhaired boy said around a mouthful of muffin, ignoring his manners for once, "Is that not only Teddy is magical, but the two of you are as well and that you played some major part in a war no one who isn't magic knew anything about and that you're now just trying to live life in a normal fashion, which has been slightly ruined by the whole people finding out magic is real thing?"

Harry shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah."

"I'm going to need another muffin."

* * *

><p>"So you've been able to do magic this whole time?"<p>

"I have, yes," Harry answered his boyfriend, who had been eerily silent for the last fifteen minutes.

"Have you ever used it on me?" Kurt asked in a small voice.

"Of course not, don't be silly."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one," Harry started explaining, "it's illegal for a magical person to use harmful magic on a Muggle. I don't really fancy going to Azkaban."

"Azkaban?"

"Wizard prison. Nasty place to be."

"Ah."

Kurt lapsed into another silence. Harry didn't try to get him to talk since Kurt was obviously thinking things over in his head.

"What's the other thing?" Kurt suddenly asked.

"What other thing?" the wizard asked, puzzled at the question.

"You said 'for one', " Kurt answered. "Implying there is something else."

Harry smiled. "Well, for another, I would never intentionally use magic on anyone I care about, which includes you."

* * *

><p>It took another half an hour before Kurt spoke up again: "Have you ever turned anyone into a toad?"<p>

Harry nearly choked on his muffin.

"No, I haven't," he rasped out. "That doesn't happen as often as people seem to think."

"Huh," Kurt shrugged, "There's another childhood story ruined."

Harry watched as another thought seemed to cross Kurt's mind.

"Do you wear those pointy hats, then?"

Harry grimaced. "Unfortunately. We used to have to wear them to every feast and class, but hats started flying a lot in class so we didn't have to wear them anymore. We only wore them to feast from that point on. A lot of witches and wizards tend to wear them when going out, though."

"You magic folk aren't really up to date with fashion, are you?"

"Not really, no."

* * *

><p>"How about love potions and things like that?"<p>

"What about them?" Harry asked. They had by now moved back to the kitchen where Harry was busy making dinner (Remus still being banned from preparing food because of an accident with the toaster).

"Do they exist?" Kurt asked, propping his elbow up on the table and resting his head on his palm in a very uncharacteristic gesture.

Harry nodded. "They do. They are illegal, though. Pretty much anything that takes away a person's will usually is."

"That's probably a smart idea," Kurt replied, a hint of relief visible in his eyes that stung Harry just a bit.

"It sure is," Harry said, turning back to his beans. "Besides, most wizards wouldn't be proficient enough in potions to actually concoct anything potent."

"Take Harry for example, " Remus interjected, walking into the kitchen with Teddy on his hip. The toddler was now sporting a bright yellow haircut. Harry suspected he had been watching Spongebob on the telly again. "A real wiz in the kitchen, but give him a cauldron and he's hopeless."

"I wouldn't say I'm _hopeless_," the darkhaired wizard in question muttered while stirring his mashed potatoes to get them more fluffy. "I got an EE on both my OWLS and my NEWTS."

"That you did," Remus agreed, dropping Teddy into his high chair, "But can you tell me the ingredients of any of your first year potions?"

"No," Harry admitted.

"That's what I thought," Remus smugly said, getting up to help Harry carry the dinner to the table.

"Oh, just shut up and eat your dinner."

* * *

><p>It was when they were loading in the dishwasher (which was complimenting Kurt on his shoes and blabbering a mile a minute because it was allowed to talk again) that Kurt asked Harry if he was going to come out as a wizard at school.<p>

"I wasn't planning to, actually," the wizard answered, closing the dishwasher. The dishwasher sighed happily and started washing the dishes. Kurt raised an eyebrow at it, but turned to his boyfriend to hear him out.

"The anonymity I've been able to have since coming here is all sorts of brilliant, and I'm not ready to give that up yet by telling people I can do magic," Harry explained. "Things were tense enough with the rest of the school for a bit there when I joined glee club a few weeks ago. I like how calm things are now."

"I still can't believe you don't get slushied like the rest of us," Kurt grumbled. "Granted, they've been after us a lot less lately as well, but still."

Harry kept quiet, waiting for Kurt to figure it out. Once Harry had finally clued in on the rest of the school treating the glee club -and Kurt in particular- like dirt (which had taking him an emberrassing amount of time to do), he had started diverting the slushies with just a subtle hint of magic so that they wouldn't hit the glee members but the lockers and whenever the jocks got the idea in their head that they wanted to pick on the glee kids they'd suddenly remember they had somewhere else to be. Like the football field to run extra laps.

"Hey, wait a minute! Was that you?"

Harry snorted and glanced at the clock. About a minute. Not bad, not great either. He had expected Kurt to piece it together a little bit quicker than that. Then again, the boy was still coming to terms with the fact that his boyfriend was a wand wielding, potion brewing, broomstick flying wizard, so Harry figured he did alright.

Kurt took Harry's amused, yet slightly guilty, face as confirmation and sighed.

"What about the rule about no using magic on Muggles?" he asked wryly.

Harry shrugged. "I wasn't doing them any harm, so I figured it was okay."

"Thank you," Kurt smiled at him.

"Any time."

* * *

><p>"Are we okay?" Harry asked while he was walking Kurt home. Kurt had protested this action since he only lived a few streets over, but the British boy had insisted.<p>

"Of course we are," Kurt replied, looking at him questioningly. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Well, I mean, I did kind of keep something pretty big from you. In my experience something like that isn't generally appreciated."

Kurt stopped walking. It took Harry a second to realise they were at Kurt's house already. Had the walk really been that short?

"Look Harry," Kurt started, laying his hand on his boyfriend's arm. "I'm not going to lie and say I saw this coming. To be honest, I'm still not entirely convinced this wasn't all some elebarate prank on your part. I'm going to need a little bit of time to get used to the idea of having a real life wizard as my boyfriend. And to do a little research since I'm pretty sure you gave me the kid- friendly version of your war stories."

"But do you think you'll get used to it?" Harry asked quietly not even denying having softened his life story quite a bit. He absentmindedly noted that Burt Hummel had stationed himself non too stealthily behind the curtains in the living room to watch what they were doing.

Kurt grinned at him. "Of course I will. If you can get used to me being obsessed with my clothes and hair, I think I can get used to knowing that you have a lot of magical power at your fingertips."

"You're amazing," Harry breathed out.

"I know."

And just for that, Harry had to kiss him. He didn't even notice Burt smile at them and step back from the window to give them some privacy.

* * *

><p><strong>So, lovelies, share your thoughts. Did you like it, love it, hate it? I'm anxious for your responses!<strong>

**Till next time!**

**-Robin.**


	19. Sectionals

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter nineteen: Sectionals**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Sorry. I swear I'll do better next time. Or at least have a chapter out sooner. So, Happy New Years, I suppose? Even though it's February already. Whatever. **

**I've got legitimate reasons for being so damn late with posting all the time though: I'm in college. I commute to get there four days in the week. Classes run from 8.30 AM to 8 PM. I'm fricking tired. Add to that the fact that my mum's recovery process from having had surgery is going way slower than any of us had expected, meaning I've got a household to partially run. Then there's my demanding internship every Tuesday and my actual job working in retail every Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday. Oh, and I tutor a few nights per week. I keep myself too busy. I've decided to cut myself some slack at the end of February, though: I've booked myself a week in London. By my lonesome. Just getting some peace, quiet, and a hell of a lot of shopping done. Because I'm worth it.**

**Anyways, as a sort of peace offering this chapter is longer than usual. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think! (Which you guys have never stopped doing even though I'm super lame. You guys are awesome!)**

**On with the story!**

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><p>The next day, the tension in the choir room was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. Mr Schuester had just announced that he would be using other glee club members for Sectionals than the usual suspects.<p>

Rachel's mouth had dropped open in outrage, Finn had shrugged, Santana had straightened in her chair. Artie had made some kind of approving gang sign no one really understood and Puck had smirked triumphantly.

Kurt had grabbed onto Harry's hand immediately, hopeful that his chances at a solo were finally more than zilch and had started whispering to Mercedes in rapid words and squeals. Harry privately thought Kurt would make a better Parselmouth than he himself did, but didn't have much of an opinion on their director's dramatic announcement.

Tina and Mike had taken it silently, but the glimmer in Tina's eyes was unmistakable. Lauren had just grunted. Brittany was too busy braiding her own hair into various twisted knots Harry thought she'd never be able to comb out. Sam had done some sort of impression that went straight over Harry's head.

"Now," Mr Schuester said, completely ignoring Rachel's sputters for once, "we've got three songs to choose, rehearse and perfect and only a little more than a week to get them right. We're going to need a solo and either a duet and a group number or two group numbers. I've got some ideas for both, but I'm up for suggestions. "

Here, he paused for a bit, looking around at his students. Then he continued: "It has recently been brought to my attention that I use too many 'old' songs and that I need to let you guys have some more input. So lay it on me; suggest away."

Immediately, the group began shouting their suggestions. Instead of trying to be organised their director tried to follow along to their called suggestions by writing them on the board as fast as he could. In the end, no one could read what he had written down.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe I got a solo," Kurt breathed out next to Harry, completely ignoring the salad in front of him, his fork hanging somewhere between his mouth and the table.<p>

Harry smiled at his boyfriend before gently taking his fork from him and placing it next to his plate, lest he accidentally hurt someone with it.

"I can," he said. "Your voice is amazing. Frankly, I'm shocked you didn't get one sooner."

"My boo's pretty awesome," Mercedes beamed at them, completely ignoring the silently fuming Rachel next to her. Mercedes had been a bit bummed at not having gotten the solo herself, but was happy for Kurt, figuring he deserved the time to shine just as much as she did. Rachel, on the other hand, had thrown a fit. But no one really paid attention to her hissy fits anymore anyway.

"Thank you," Kurt said softly. He seemed to suddenly realise he wasn't holding his fork anymore and looked down at the utensil next to his plate in confusion. Harry hid a grin in his hand. Mercedes giggled.

"Pretty great song selection, too," Tina supplied from next to Rachel. "I can't wait to hear you guys do 'Kryptonite' up on that stage. It's going to be great!"

Harry grinned at her. The song was one he had suggested himself and Mr Schuester had decided that the guys would sing that song as their second number, right after Kurt's solo. The girls would dance and provide harmonies in the background. Kurt was still debating with their choir director about which song to sing, though everyone had agreed it should be a musical song. The third song would be a group song in which they all sang. They had chosen 'Dog Days Are Over', highly featuring Mercedes (another reason she wasn't too bummed at not getting the solo) and Tina.

Even if Blaine's stories about the Warblers were true and they were like rock stars at their own school, Harry was still quietly confident they could beat them. And if not that, than at least give them some serious competition.

* * *

><p>The week leading up to Sectionals went by in a haze of classes, song and dance rehearsals and many evenings of Harry amusedly watching Kurt pace the length of his basement bedroom (with the door open to adhere to Burt's rules) as he worried about his solo. The last night before Sectionals Harry couldn't watch it any longer so he took Kurt to the movies to help him relax. Amazingly, it worked. The morning after though, he was a complete wreck.<p>

"But what if I black out?" the countertenor asked in a sudden panic.

"You won't," Harry assured him, "You've known this song inside and out for years. You're going to nail it."

"And if you do forget the lines," Rachel (who had finally got rid of the duct-tape she had had sealed to her lips the entire week, Harry already mourned the loss of silence) cut in, "I'll be ready to step in at a moment's notice."

Kurt's eyes narrowed. "Thanks Rachel, that's just the encouragement I needed. Now I have an even bigger reason to do well up there."

Harry hid his grin while tying a perfect Windsor (The Gryffindor tie had been good for something, at least. ). If Kurt hadn't wanted to do well before, he did now. Rachel folded her arms and stalked off in a huff.

Mr Schuester chose that moment to enter the dressing room. "Alright guys, the curtains are about to open. If we don't take our places now we're going to miss The Hipsters."

The group filed out, making their way down to the auditorium. On their way down the steps they passed the Warblers. Harry searched their faces, but didn't have to look for long. Blaine sat half-turned in his chair, one leg tucked beneath him and waving madly at him and Kurt. He was a stark contrast to the other blazer clad boys, who were rigid in their seats and staring straight ahead at the stage. A blonde boy and a dark- skinned boy flanked Blaine and were giving him odd looks at his behaviour before glancing over their shoulders at Harry and Kurt who by now had let the rest of their group pass them by.

_Good luck!_, Blaine mouthed at them, grinning wildly. Harry did his best impression of a Malfoy smirk.

_You too, you'll need it_, he mouthed back in jest. Next to him he could see Kurt chuckle.

Blaine adopted a mock wounded look and playfully stuck out his tongue. The Asian boy next to the blonde boy looked at him with plain disbelief written all over his face. Harry laughed shortly and he and Kurt finally made their way down to their seats, studiously ignoring the looks on the faces of the rest of the New Directions members.

"Who was that?" Mercedes hissed at Kurt as they sat down. The rest of the club did their best to try as if they were not listening in.

"A friend," Kurt replied briefly, fixing his attention on the stage, where the curtains were beginning to part.

"He's a Warbler!" Rachel spit out from behind them. Harry really started to miss the duct- tape. "You two had better not be fraternising with the enemy!"

Harry shushed her. "Be quiet, they're about to start."

He sat back in his chair, ready to watch the Hipsters perform. Next to him, Kurt did the same. Rachel spluttered a little in indignation, but she was ignored.

* * *

><p>So, apparently, the Warblers <em>were<em> rock stars. And Blaine was amazing. And in deep trouble for not mentioning he was their lead singer sooner.

"You didn't tell me Blaine sang lead!", Kurt rapidly whispered at him as they made their way backstage.

"I didn't know!", Harry replied in a similar fashion. "He never told me. You're the one he went shopping with thrice in the last couple of weeks, didn't he mention anything to you?"

"Not a thing."

"Cheeky bugger," Harry said, shaking his head. They were the only two on stage, behind the curtains. Kurt was supposed to do his solo and in the meantime Harry and the rest of the boys would run back through the hallways to reach the other side of the auditorium so they could do the back entrance- thing, which was apparently some kind of New Directions tradition.

Suddenly, Kurt looked nervous again. "I can't believe I'm about to do this."

"You'll be fine," Harry smiled at him. "No, you'll be better than fine. You'll be amazing."

"Thanks," the nervous boy smiled, "But I'd prefer to get through this performance before judging it."

"Oh, pishposh," Harry replied in a manner eerily reminiscent of his old Transfiguration professor. "You're going to do great, and I'm going to listen to your beautiful voice from the other side of the auditorium, occasionally pausing to send smug looks to the other boys."

At Kurt's raised eyebrow he continued: "None of them have amazingly cute boyfriends with fantastic voices."

"That's because all of them are straight!" Kurt exclaimed with a grin on his face.

"Or so they claim," Harry rebutted, before quickly stepping forward to peck Kurt on the lips. "I've got to run, the lights are dimming again. Good luck."

"You're not supposed to say that," Kurt hissed, "You're supposed to say-"

"Break a leg. I know, love. Go ahead and splinter those bloody bones."

"Oh, just go."

* * *

><p>"I've got to admit," Puck commented as Kurt's voice soared through the auditorium, "Hummel's got a pair on him."<p>

Next to Puck, Artie snorted.

"Lungs, I mean! A pair of lungs," Puck quickly corrected, ignoring the way the other boys snickered around him.

"Of course that's what you meant," Harry drawled, eyebrow raised. "And Kurt claimed all of you were straight. Hah."

"Wait dude, we totally are," Finn said, seemingly needing to set the matter, well, straight. Next to him, Sam nodded furiously. Mike didn't seem to care about his sexuality being in question, instead choosing to focus on his stretches. Harry quickly copied this action, figuring it was a wise move. The rest – bar Artie- followed. In the auditorium, Kurt's voice launched into the next verse. Though they would never admit it, all boys quietly sang with him under their breaths.

"…_my mad existence, I kept my promise__, don't keep your distance__…."_

Harry groaned as something in his thigh seemed to snap as he stretched. It didn't hurt, so he figured it was just something that happened during stretches. He wouldn't know. He had never really needed to stretch his legs for Quidditch, as his knees and arms did most of the steering in the air. That, and his runs the previous year with Ron and Hermione hasn't exactly been for fun. There were usually Death Eaters nearby, or angry goblins chasing them for breaking into a vault. Fun times.

"…_.__They are illusions_

_They're not the solutions_

_They promise to be_

_The answer was here all the time_

_I love you and hope you love me__….."_

Harry decided he could probably listen to his boyfriend sing forever. He had heard Kurt practise the song in his room at least a thousand times, and while amazing, none of the times he had sang it had sounded as good as it did now. He also decided Kurt wasn't allowed to ever worry about performing again. Around him, the other boys had stopped their stretches. They all got up and took their positions at the auditorium doors.

"_Have I said too much?_

_There's nothing more I can think of to say to you_

_But all you have to do_

_Is look at me to know_

_That every word is true__."_

The music tapered off and behind the auditorium doors the boys glanced at each other, then simultaneously seemed to grin as the opening notes for their song started playing. Showtime.

* * *

><p>Blaine was shocked. No, 'shock' wasn't the right word for what he was experiencing right now. He was in awe. Blaine Anderson, junior member and lead singer for the Warblers, was in awe. Kurt could sing. No, not 'sing', he knew Kurt could sing. He didn't know that Kurt could <em>sing<em>. There was a difference. Two seats over, Wes couldn't seem to believe it either.

"A _countertenor_?", the Asian council member furiously muttered to Jeff, who looked like he would rather be anywhere else than where he was sitting at the moment, "Do you have any idea how rare that is?"

"Er, pretty rare?" Jeff guessed, throwing a panicked look in Blaine's direction. They all knew how scary Wes could get when things didn't go exactly the way he had planned them.

"No, Jeffrey, _pretty rare_ is finding a piece of metal in a tuna can," Wes sniped. Jeff cringed at the use of his full name. "A countertenor is as rare as…. as…I can't think of the right simile, but it's extremely rare. Where did they get that kid?"

"Lima," Blaine supplied helpfully. Wes just gave him the evil eye. Right then, the opening notes to the next song started and the boys trained their eyes on the stage again. The empty stage. What the…?

Suddenly, the spotlights swivelled and were aimed at the back of the auditorium. The two doors their opened with a slight _bang_. Wes turned incredulous eyes to the back and Blaine had to hide a grin in his hand. The bus ride back to Dalton was going to be hell, but the look on Wes' face made it all worth it in advance.

"_I took a walk around the world _

_To ease my troubled mind _

_I left my body laying somewhere _

_In the sands of time" _

The mohawked boy singing the opening lines seemed like a perfect fit for the song. As Blaine watched, two lines of boys dressed in black with only a tie as a coloured accent - Kurt would have had a hand in that- descended the stairs, marching in perfect sync. A blonde boy with rather large lips took over the next few lines:

"_I watched the world float _

_To the dark side of the moon _

_I feel there is nothing I can do, yeah "_

While not the perfect fit for the song, the blonde boy sang with a pleasant voice and hit the last note surprisingly well. The boys on the stairs stopped somewhere halfway down and turned –again in perfect sync, how the hell did they do that?- to face each other. The tallest boy in their group took over the next few lines:

"_I watched the world float _

_To the dark side of the moon _

_After all I knew it had to be _

_Something to do with you " _

During the last line the boys had started their march down the stairs again, and on the 'you' they stopped dead in their tracks and turned their heads to the special ramp all the way at the wall. Blaine and the rest of the Warblers followed their lead immediately, wandering what was about to happen. They were answered pretty much immediately when another door opened and a boy in a wheelchair came rolling down at top speed, singing the next few lines:

"_I really don't mind what happens now and then _

_As long as you'll be my friend at the end"_

Blaine focused his attention on the rest of the boys again, but found he couldn't. The boys were gone. They had somehow used the few seconds the boy in the wheelchair had pulled the attention to himself to make their way on stage and form a perfect formation. Blaine was starting to feel nervous. Then, Harry broke out of the formation as the boys started to dance.

"_If I go crazy then will you still _

_Call me Superman _

_If I'm alive and well, will you be _

_There holding my hand _

_I'll keep you by my side _

_With my superhuman might _

_Kryptonite" _

Harry's voice sounded smoother than Blaine had expected beforehand. His normal speaking voice was quiet, polite, and at times a little hoarse. The way he sang the lyrics to the song was completely different. His voice still sounded a little raw, but in a way that drew him in to the song. He told a story with his voice and Blaine was pleasantly surprised at his performance. This was a far cry from the polite boy who occasionally landed him on his ass in the ring. Okay, more than occasionally, but still.

Before he could think on it more the boys started alternating lines and the choreography seemed to get more fluent yet more chaotic at the same time, with Kurt –who had re-joined the boys when they made their way on to the stage- taking the first two lines:

"_You called me strong, you called me weak, _

_But still your secrets I will keep _

_You took for granted all the times _

_I never let you down _

_You stumbled in and bumped your head, _

_If not for me then you would be dead _

_I picked you up and put you back _

_On solid ground" _

From out of seemingly nowhere – though Blaine had seen them sneak on stage during the last line (sang by Artie, whose voice Blaine decided he really liked)- the New Directions girls had joined the boys, each flanking a boy and pulling them into an insane choreography – did that Asian guy seriously just flip that blonde girl in the air?- while all members sang the chorus:

"_If I go crazy then will you still _

_Call me Superman _

_If I'm alive and well, _

_Will you be there holding my hand _

_I'll keep you by my side _

_With my superhuman might _

_Kryptonite_

_Yeah!"_

For the last chorus, the girls suddenly dropped to the ground. Simultaneously, the music stopped and the boys all adopted army- like stances; legs spread a little apart, hands clasped behind their backs. The only sound heard was the voices of the boys as they sang the last chorus:

"_If I go crazy then will you still _

_Call me Superman _

_If I'm alive and well, will you be there _

_Holding my hand _

_I'll keep you by my side _

_With my superhuman might_

_Kryptonite…"_

As the last sung notes tapered off, Blaine felt a sense of impending doom press down on him. He didn't dare look at Wes. Next to him David had sunk down in his chair, his head in his hands. Blaine could understand his feelings very well: The New Directions still had another song to perform. They were screwed.

* * *

><p>"You were incredible!" Harry breathed into Kurt's neck as he lifted him off the ground in a suffocating hug, vaguely reminiscent of Mrs Weasley. They were waiting in the hallway after having just finished their third song, "Dog Days Are Over". The judges were busy judging their performance, but somewhere deep down Harry really thought they had won.<p>

"He's right, you know," Blaine's voice sounded from behind him. Harry let go of Kurt and they turned to look at him, noticing a few other Warblers loitering nearby. "You were great. Wes is still cursing your voice. He's beside himself with nerves."

"Thanks," Kurt breathed, grinning ear to ear. "You were pretty amazing yourself."

"Thank you," the blazer clad said. "Not good enough though, I don't think. You guys nailed it."

"I suppose we're about to find out," Harry idly commented, "The judges are leaving their room."

The words hadn't fully left his mouth yet when Mr Schuester already came barrelling around the corner and shooing them back on stage. Harry chuckled when he saw a very nervous looking Asian guy do the same to Blaine.

Once the groups were gathered on stage, the third place was easily announced. The Hipsters, for all their effort, just hadn't been able to cut it. Harry smiled at them as they passed them by, then caught Blaine doing the same from across the stage. The boys caught each other's eyes and grinned. Moment of truth.

"And the winner is…"

* * *

><p><strong>Once again; thank you guys for waiting so damn long for this chapter. I love you guys for still being with me and this story. Please let me know what you thought. I'll make sure to pack my laptop when I'm going on holiday so I can read your reviews, PMs or whatever else you decide to send me. You guys are amazing.<strong>

**So, thoughts? **

**Till next time!**

**-Robin.**


	20. Busy Day in Lima

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter twenty: Busy Day in Lima**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: So, I didn't do better. I'm pretty sure I actually did worse. I got some really sweet reviews and PMs telling me to take my time though, and I want to thank you guys for that. You're sweethearts. So, the thing is, a lot has happened to me lately. I won't get into it here, but I had to take my time for a bit. Relax, get my groove back. While doing so, I fell into some other fandoms (primarily Doctor Who) and out of some others. And as such, most of my creative energy has gone into new fandoms. **

**While I still really like Glee, I haven't actually seen this season's last episodes. I'll still watch them, but I don't really like what the spoilers I read were telling me. Anyhoo, this has no further bearing on this story, besides this: You guys PM me, which I love (and sorry if I haven't returned your messages, for some reason I don't appear to be able to), but please don't spoil me for the last few episodes. Thanks in advance **

**Here's the next instalment of this fic. I'll honestly try to get a new chapter out sooner next time.**

**Oh, and if you want to message me - which you always may do- I'll get to it faster if you message me on Tumblr instead of here. Also, better chance of me being able to answer it.**

**You guys rock!**

**Also, over 600 reviews already, guys! Wow. Just, wow.**

**Enjoy the chapter, lovelies and don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts at the end of it!**

* * *

><p>Blaine decided that while there were only very few people that actually annoyed him, Wesley Montgomery was quickly working his way up that admittedly short list.<p>

"Wow, Blainers, looking good!"

And so was Jeff Bradford, for that matter. Blaine sighed, before resuming his vigorous assault on the boxing bag in front of him. Ever since the tie at sectionals – because yes, of course they had tied. How was anyone's guess, since he didn't think the Warblers had been any better than New Directions (or, indeed, even on par with them)- Wes and his vulture of the day had been stalking him to find out what else he all knew about their musical rivals.

Instead of just asking Blaine what he knew about the New Directions ( which, admittedly, wasn't a hell of a lot), Wes had taken to following him around like a bloodhound on a trail. At first, Blaine had laughed about it when he had seen the Asian council member and Thad stalk him in the supermarket, trying – and failing miserably- to hide themselves behind the same carton of milk. He had found it amusing when he had spotted Wes and Nick spy on him from behind a newspaper with cartoon- esque eyeholes cut out of it.

He had been confused when Wes had shown up at his hairdresser with Colin and he had been downright shocked to find him and David in his back garden at home, since they lived over fifteen miles away. Having him and Jeff show up at his gym now though, was the proverbial straw. He stopped his beating away at the bag for a second to turn to the two Warblers behind him, lounging casually on a bench and not even trying to look inconspicuous anymore.

"Could you," he started to ask as politely as he still could, "just stop following me around? Even for just a day?"

Wes raised an eyebrow at him, looking distinctly unimpressed. "Not a chance."

"It's not like I'm in their show choir inner circle or something," Blaine impressed on them, "I'm just friends with Harry and Kurt. I've never even met the rest of them."

"And yet you failed to mention that one of your _friends_ was one of the biggest threats to us winning the competition. A countertenor, Blaine. Really?"

"I didn't know that!," the curly haired Warbler said. "It's not like we hang out around a campfire and sing songs while roasting marshmallows or something."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" Wes asked, seeming to be very serious about this. Jeff snorted.

"Common sense?" Blaine replied. Jeff chuckled. Wes turned to him.

"Something you'd like to add, Jeffrey?", he asked archly.

Jeff's laughter stopped immediately. "Nope. I'm good."

"Wimp," Blaine muttered, before going back to his punching bag, studiously ignoring his choir mates.

* * *

><p>"You go to the gym a lot lately," Kurt commented while they got out of Harry's tiny car.<p>

"Yes, I suppose I do," Harry himself replied while locking the car behind them. He slung his gym bag over his shoulder and started walking towards the building with Kurt by his side.

Kurt looked at him from the side. "You're not planning on becoming all bulky, right?"

"Why?" the wizard asked. "Would that bother you?"

The auburn haired boy next to him shrugged. "Not bother, per se, I don't think. I just don't think it'll suit you all that much."

"Are you calling me tiny?" Harry asked, his left eyebrow rising to meet his hairline.

"Yes, Hare," Kurt sighed. "Miniscule."

They had entered the building by this point and were heading towards the changing rooms.

"Seriously though," Kurt tried again when Harry entered the changing room, following in behind him, "you've been coming here a lot more frequently. Why?"

"I've just got a lot of energy," Harry replied, pulling his shirt over his head. Kurt politely turned his eyes away.

"Then stop drinking coffee."

Harry laughed, then took a quick look around him before explaining: "Not that kind of energy. I haven't been using my magic a lot lately. Muggle environment and all. I've got magical energy crackling beneath my skin. Exercising helps me release some of that energy."

"But I thought you lived around non- magical people before?", Kurt asked, before letting out a tiny 'eep' when his boyfriend dropped his jeans to change into gym shorts.

"I did," Harry said, before bending over to tie his shoelaces. "But that was either before starting at Hogwarts or for short periods in between my school years. Besides, I had to use a lot of magic last year. I suppose you can compare it to going cold turkey. The magic rebels."

"So, magic is like an addiction?"

"Not to the conscientious user," the wizard replied. "Though I suppose to some wizards it is. I reckon that's where power hungry megalomaniac dark lords come from."

"Huh," Kurt said as they walked out of the changing room and into the gym. "You learn something new every day."

"I know I do," Harry replied. "AP American history is killing me."

"Not what I meant," his boyfriend said, digging through his bag to find today's fashion magazine.

"I know," Harry said. "Still, though…"

"Don't you have Rachel as your research partner for that?"

"What part of 'AP American history _is killing me' _do I need to repeat?" Harry smirked. Kurt nudged him in the side softly, a grin tugging at his lips.

"Understood. Now go be all manly and sweaty."

"Are you going to be alright?" Harry asked. Kurt held up his magazine.

"I can keep myself entertained. Now go," he said.

"Yes, sir!", the wizard said, jokingly saluting his boyfriend before winking and walking off towards the boxing area. Kurt chuckled and sat down on a bench, settling in to read his fashion magazine.

Reaching the boxing ring and hanging punching bags, Harry immediately spotted Blaine almost literally punching the stuffing out of a bag, his face set in an annoyed scowl. The reason for the scowl became clear to Harry very quickly as he noticed the two blazer clad boys behind Blaine, continuously talking to him.

"Are these two boys bothering you, Blaine?" he asked flippantly, grabbing onto the bag to give his friend a more stable target to hit. The look of relief on Blaine's face was impossible to miss.

"Yes," he breathed. "Please get rid of them."

"It's a free country," the blonde boy said, "We can sit wherever we want."

"Unfortunately," Blaine hissed through his teeth. Harry chuckled.

"You look a little tense there, mate," he said to the boy still pummelling away at the bug. Blaine raised an eyebrow as if to say "_no shit_".

"Want to work some of that off?" Harry continued while motioning towards the ring and ignoring the sarcasm so masterfully represented in only an eyebrow.

"Dude, did that English guy just proposition Bee?" the blonde boy stage- whispered to the Asian boy, who only rolled his eyes in response.

"There's something seriously wrong with your friends, _Bee_," Harry said as they made their way to the ring.

"Why?" Blaine asked, mock – indignantly, "for implying you might find me attractive? Am I not attractive to you, Harry?"

Harry sighed, choosing not to answer that since his boyfriend was only a few metres away.

"Oh, just get in the ring so I can land you on your ass for that," he just responded, holding the ropes open so his friend could climb through.

"See?", Blaine said as if this just proved his point while climbing into the ring, "there you go talking about my ass again."

* * *

><p>"Shit, Harry, I think you broke something," Blaine wheezed out as they climbed out of the ring over half an hour later. Jeff and Wes – whom Blaine had explained to Harry in between punches- had already left to go back to Dalton. Harry glanced over at him.<p>

"Did you just curse?", he asked, figuring he should really stop cussing if even Blaine was picking up on the habit.

"Really?" Blaine asked incredulously, "That's the most important thing you got from that? I think you broke a rib."

"Oh, let me have a look," the wizard replied, before carefully reaching out to feel against Blaine's rib cage. Blaine hissed.

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Harry said. "You're fine. You probably just pulled a muscle or something."

"Please tell me you're not feeling up another boy when your boyfriend is only a little ways off," a familiar voice cut into whatever Blaine was about to say in reply to that.

"Don't be ridiculous, Hermione, of course I'm not," Harry automatically replied before his brain caught up with his mouth, "I'm just checking for injury, as you should know, sin- Hermione!"

Harry spun around, only to find his bushy haired friend standing behind him, arms crossed, with an amused expression on her face. He rushed over to catch her in a tight hug.

"What are you doing here?" he breathed into her hair, not yet able to fully comprehend her being there.

"I missed you, of course," she replied, hugging him back tightly before abruptly letting her arms drop. "Could you stop hugging me, though? You reek."

"I don't reek!," Harry indignantly replied before letting go of her. "I'm just a bit sweaty."

"My point exactly," Hermione said before glancing behind him meaningfully. It took a few seconds (and Blaine rasping his throat) for the penny to drop in Harry's mind.

"Oh, right," he said, an embarrassed smile on his face, "Blaine, Hermione, Hermione, Blaine."

"Gee, thanks, Harry," Blaine said while reaching forwards to shake her hand, "that just told me loads about her."

"I'm the friend that got him through secondary school," Hermione helpfully supplied. Harry chose not to correct her, since she had a point. "His other best friend and I came over for a bit."

"I'm the guy who kicks his ass on occasion," Blaine replied. Him, however, Harry _did_ feel the need to correct, but something else had caught his attention first.

"Ron's here?" he asked. "Where?"

"He's over there," she said, pointing over to where Kurt was sat, "giving your boyfriend the _you-hurt-my-brother-prepare-to-be-hurt-in-return_-speech."

"He's _not_," Harry sighed, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Looking around Hermione though, he could see his red haired best friend talking to Kurt with a serious expression on his face.

"I thought you didn't have siblings," Blaine said confusedly.

"I don't," Harry answered distractedly.

"Don't let Mrs Weasley hear you say that," Hermione said, "she's already on my case for getting you to write more, I don't want to have to lecture you on having a very large, redheaded family as well."

"Can you just not, and say you did?," Harry tried, but the look on her face already told him this was a futile attempt at avoiding the lecture. He sighed. "Fine. But later, okay? I need to go save my boyfriend from yours."

"Actually," Blaine said, looking over at Ron and Kurt. "I think it might be the other way around."

As they got closer, Blaine turned out to be right.

"….no, really, orange does nothing for you, why are you even wearing that shirt?," Kurt's voice could be heard.

"It's the Cannons!", Ron replied. Next to Harry, Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's the best Quidditch team there is!"

"It's really not, though," Harry cut in as they got close enough to be heard. "Aren't they last, _again_?"

"I prefer to think of it as _still_. They're a stable team," Ron said, while Blaine asked Hermione what Quidditch even was.

"Secondary school football," she said in return, lying her face off with an ease she wouldn't have been able to pull off before their year on the run. Meanwhile, Harry wedged himself in between his boyfriend and his best friend, throwing the latter a suspicious look.

"What are you doing _here_?," he asked.

"Just meeting your boyfriend," Ron answered cheerfully, "you've been very close-lipped about him so I figured I'd just introduce myself."

"Right," Harry said, drawing out the word. "Can I trust you guys not to gossip too much while I shower?"

"No promises," Hermione said. Harry figured that was only fair.

"Coming, Blaine?" he asked. Ron's eyes widened.

"Oh, relax, Ron," Harry said while Blaine replied with a quiet 'sure', "there's cubicles."

"Why does everyone think I'm propositioning you today?" he asked Blaine as they walked towards the changing room, not sure if it was wise to leave his boyfriend in the hands of his best friends.

"Not sure," Blaine shrugged. "Your friend Ron takes his high school soccer really seriously, though, doesn't he?"

* * *

><p>Later that day, after Harry and Kurt had had coffee with Hermione and Ron and the two friends had come over to see Remus for a bit, they were preparing to take off again.<p>

"You're leaving so soon?" Harry asked while Hermione was still buttoning her coat.

"Ron's scheduled Quidditch practise for seven o'clock tomorrow," she explained, "I've heard George call him the next Oliver Wood twice already. "

Harry checked to see if Ron could hear them or not. He was trying to get Teddy to change his hair to mimic Hermione's though. Then he asked: "How's Fred?"

"He's getting better," Hermione replied. "He's still not all there, though. A bit fuzzy at times. George has been making great progress with him though. There was talk of him starting up in the shop again next month."

"That's great!" Harry grinned. She nodded.

"It really is," she said, before reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a heavy parchment envelope. "But now on to the _real_ reason we're here…"

"What? Do you mean to tell me you didn't really miss me? I'm hurt, Hermione."

"Oh, shut it, Harry. You know I missed you. That's why I insisted on coming here myself to hand you this. It should be done by a ministry employee, really, but Kingsley thought we might like to come for another visit."

"Thoughtful," Harry commented. "Now, what exactly am I holding?"

"It's your court summons," his best female friend explained, "Assuming you still want to testify in the Malfoy case. It's in a week and a half's time, just a few days before Yule."

"I'll be there," Harry nodded.

"Speaking of Yule," Ron interjected, coming over to join them, "Mum wants to have you over. There's a thing at Hogwarts, too, but Ginny said she'd find a way to wheedle you in to doing that."

"What thing?", Harry asked, a hint of fear in his voice. Hermione immediately caught on to it.

"Honestly, Harry? A dark lord you can handle, but social functions scare you?"

Harry shrugged. Ron threw him an understanding look before handing Teddy over to him.

"Anyway, mate, Ginny said she'd pop by later tonight. Keep your floo open, okay?" he said.

"Tell Kurt goodbye for us, will you Harry?" Hermione asked before reaching over to hug him and give Teddy a kiss on the cheek. "It's a shame we don't get to do it ourselves, but we've got to go."

"I'll tell him when he comes over tonight," Harry promised, before telling Ron that he could tell his mum he'd be over come Yule. When they left through the fireplace Harry felt the distinct urge to close off the floo, but resisted actually doing so.

"We're just going to have to face the music, Ted," he muttered. Teddy laughed.

"Yeah, laugh all you want. You're going to have it easy. She'll just coo over you. Me, I'm going to have my boyfriend and my ex in the same room."

* * *

><p>"...so I said to him, I said, don't you even dare think I'm going out with you again, you filthy motherf-"<p>

"Ginny!", Harry scolded, pointedly looking down at the toddler playing at his feet.

"-fickler," the redhead continued, "And then I turned him blue. I got detention for it, too."

"You turned him _blue_?", Harry asked, aghast, "For how long?"

Ginny shrugged. "Just until he apologised."

"Has he?"

"Not just yet," the witch admitted with a guilty smile. "The other Huffelpuffs have started calling him the Huffelsmurf. It cracks me up every time."

From the other side of the room, Remus snorted. "That _is_ funny."

"But enough about me," Ginny breezed, sitting herself down on the couch opposite Harry and Kurt. "I want to hear all about you, Kurt. I want to know all about the boy that's drawn the great Harry Potter's eyes away from the female sex and unto you."

Kurt, who honestly was still a little shocked at having seen a girl casually walk out of a burning fireplace not even ten minutes before was having a hard time catching up to her. Harry, sensing his boyfriends discomfort, swiftly interjected:

"Now Gin, go easy on him. He's still recovering from learning about magic and here you sweep in, demanding to know all about him. Let him breathe for a second."

To Kurt he added softly: "Honestly, you'd think she would be just a bit more pissed about her ex suddenly being into guys and all that. Instead she's suddenly my number one fag hag."

"I heard that, Potter," Ginny said with amusement in her voice. Harry smiled at her guiltily. "But you're right. I'll go easy on the poor Muggle."

"_Ginny_," Harry sighed, exasperated.

"Just kidding, Harry. You know I love Muggles. Especially the tasty kind."

"Gin, stop. Please."

" Yeah, yeah. Now, about Yule…"

* * *

><p><strong>I told you guys before that I couldn't kill Fred. I just couldn't. <strong>

**So, what did you guys think?**

**Till next time!**

**Love, Robin.**


	21. Ginny Causes Chatter

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter twenty- one: Ginny Causes Chatter**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: I did better! I can hardly believe it myself, to be honest. **

**This is – in my opinion- a bit of a filler chapter. I needed this chapter to get to the next one, where one of the more important parts of the story will take place. Someone asked me on tumblr (and I do recommend you message me there instead of on here, because you're 100 per cent sure to get an answer there and here…not so much) how long this story would be. My answer: I'm not sure. I had initially planned to end the story after the next chapter, but I have more in store for them. I'm not sure what to do with that. I might write a few more chapters to round this instalment of and write a sequel (or not, what do you guys think?) or just continue on in here, so that it's all in one place. I'll need to think on that. Feel free to help me with that.**

**As always: enjoy the chapter and let me know what you thought of it!**

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><p>If there was one thing that could be said about Ginny, Harry figured, it was that she was persistent. When she got a hold of something, be it something tangible or one of her 'brilliant' (and Harry used that adjective <em>very<em> loosely) ideas, she was like a dog with a bone. He figured he should have probably realised this way back in second year, when she had sent that grumpy dwarf to read him a Valentine. Still, better late than never.

"Ginny, can you please give him a break?", he asked exasperatedly when she was still quizzing his boyfriend about his life three hours after having stepped out of his fireplace. Kurt, for his part, seemed to be taking it all in stride. After the shock of seeing his boyfriend's ex- _girlfriend_ step out of a burning fireplace had passed, he had started to humour her rampant curiosity, with only a small hint of being uncomfortable showing on his face .

Ginny looked up at him with her brown eyes enlarged almost ridiculously in an attempt to look innocent.

"Oh please, Harry, can't I play with him for a little longer?" she asked, a glint in her eyes Harry decided was a direct copy of the twins' when they were on a mission. He decided he didn't like it one bit.

"Actually, no. You really can't. I promised his dad I'd always have him home by eleven, and it's a quarter to."

From where he was sat next to Harry, Kurt sprung up from the couch immediately.

"Oh dear, is that the time?", he breathed, a hint of relief unmistakable in his voice. "I suppose I'd better run, then."

"I'll walk you," Harry offered as Kurt hastily shook Ginny's hand in goodbye, not giving her the chance to drag him into a hug.

"You," Harry continued, pointing a finger at Ginny while Kurt got his coat from the hall, "stay here. And don't wreck the place."

"Aye, captain," she saluted, before dropping back down onto the couch. "I'll just watch some of your fellytision thing."

"Television," Harry corrected her automatically, but she just waved him away. Harry followed in Kurt's footsteps and went into the hall to grab his coat.

An awkward silence seemed to hang between them as they walked towards Kurt's house. Finally, Harry couldn't take it anymore and broke it.

"So," he said carefully. "I'm sorry if Ginny made you uncomfortable. She can be kind of… intimidating, I suppose."

"She's alright," Kurt shrugged, looking straight ahead of him. "She asks a lot of questions, though."

"That she does," Harry agreed. "I'll talk to her about that later."

"Is she staying then?" Kurt asked, looking at him from the side. Harry shrugged.

"For the rest of the evening, I suppose," he answered. "She still hasn't made it very clear what she wants from me at Hogwarts. I presume I'll be bombarded with that the second I walk in when I get back."

Kurt hummed. Which was peculiar, since Kurt usually never hesitated to say what was on his mind.

"Does that bother you?"

Kurt took a few seconds to think this over, during which Harry started to feel like a right tool. Of course Kurt would have a problem with his boyfriend's ex suddenly starting to hang around. What kind of fool was he to have ever thought otherwise?

"I suppose," Kurt started, drawing Harry out of his musings, "that while I'm not exactly thrilled that your ex-girlfriend – who you are going to tell me more about when she's gone, by the way- is here I can handle having her around for a bit, provided you don't actually feel something for her anymore."

They stopped walking when they reached Kurt's house, with only a few minutes still left until his curfew.

"I'll always feel _something_ for her," Harry replied, then added when he saw his boyfriend's eyes narrow a bit: "Nothing romantic, mind, but I've come to consider her as something of a sister, I suppose. That's feeling something too, right?"

After a few seconds of staring at Harry – who was starting to feel just the teeniest bit uncomfortable by this, especially when he thought he saw the curtains rustle a bit inside the house- Kurt nodded.

"Alright," he said. "I suppose I can live with that."

Harry smiled, relieved, and Kurt turned to look behind him at the same curtains Harry had been sure he had seen movement behind only seconds prior to this. "I need to get inside now though, before my dad comes out to get me."

"Would he really, though?" Harry wondered.

"He really would," Kurt assured him, before reaching over to kiss him quickly. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

As usual, all Harry could do after a kiss from his boyfriend was nod dumbly and smile like an idiot, so Kurt just took that as a yes. Rolling his eyes and muttering something like '_you great big doofus_' he went inside, softly closing the door behind him. Harry remained standing there for a little bit longer before he squared his shoulders and made his way back home, ready to face his ex- girlfriend on whatever quest she was on.

* * *

><p>Waking up the next morning felt like a chore. Harry groaned the second he opened his eyes, closing them immediately against the morning sun lighting into his room. He really should start looking into thicker curtains, he decided, before dragging the covers up over his head. He managed to stay that way, safely cocooned into his little nest on the bed- until Remus stuck his head in the door about ten minutes later.<p>

"Up and at 'em, Harry," he said. "Don't you have an AP Calculus test first thing today? Whatever that is."

Harry groaned again. He had completely forgotten about that with all the things that had been going on the day before. " Please don't remind me."

"Too late," the werewolf shrugged cheerfully before grabbing the bottom of the covers and pulling them of off Harry in a single go. "Come on, time to get up. I'll put some coffee on for you."

"Thanks," the raven haired teen muttered in response as Remus left the room, still lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. This day couldn't possible have started worse.

About fifteen minutes later though, when he came downstairs after having washed his face, brushed his teeth, made an effort to comb his hair, got dressed and packed his stuff for the day, he was proven dead wrong. Because sat at the kitchen table, his lilac haired godson on her lap, was Ginny Weasley.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked her while accepting the cup of coffee Remus handed him with a quick smile.

"That's no way to greet your guests, Harry," Ginny chided him, before continuing in a higher pitched voice to Teddy: "Your goddaddy is a great big grump in the morning, isn't he?"

Harry decided he didn't like the way Teddy giggled at that and said to Ginny: "You were my guest last night. I wasn't aware you had stayed the night. Last I recall, you were going to watch the ending of that show on the telly and then head on back home."

Ginny shrugged. "And I probably would have gone to if you had given me an answer to my question last night."

"I said I'd sleep on it!", Harry exclaimed, reaching across the table for the toast laid out on a plate. He suspected Ginny had made it, since Remus was still forbidden from using kitchen appliances.

"And well look at that, it appears you have," Ginny said, mock- surprised. "Which means you must have an answer by now."

"I really don't," Harry said, before glancing at the clock. "Besides, I really need to talk to Kurt about that first."

"Please don't tell me that boy has you whipped already," the red haired menace complained as Harry stood up to get his coat and to swing his bag over his shoulder.

"He does _not_," he replied, heroically ignoring Remus' snort from where he was reading the morning paper. "I would just like to get his input on this."

Ginny only responded by making a sound that very closely resembled a whip cracking. Harry glared at her.

* * *

><p>"She wants you to <em>what?!<em>", Kurt hissed in the near empty choir room at the end of the day. None of their classes matched up on Mondays, so this was the first chance Harry got to talk to his boyfriend.

And he was spectacularly botching it up, too.

"Look, I know the situation's not ideal-", he started to defend himself – and by extension, Ginny-, but Kurt cut him off immediately:

"_Not ideal?_," he near shrieked. "No, Harry, _not ideal_ would be you just not being here for Christmas, which I've already resigned myself to, because I know you've got a life over there. Not ideal is not you attending a party with your ex- girlfriend, where you know everyone's eyes are going to be on the two of you."

"But I'm not actually going as her date, I just told you that," Harry tried.

"I know that," Kurt answered, "but everyone else won't."

"They will when her plan works," Harry said, noticing Kurt starting to cool down some. "Besides, then you will show up and everyone will know Gin and I are not a couple anymore."

"I'm still not sure if- Wait.", Kurt stopped in the middle of his sentence, a look of wonder starting to make its way across his face. "What do you mean, _when I show up_?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Harry asked, feigning ignorance. From the corner of his eyes he could see Lauren entering the room. "I get to bring a guest, too. And I was hoping you'd be my date."

Kurt's eyes widened. "You mean I actually get to come?" , he asked excitedly, mindfully keeping his voice down, "I really get to see Hogwarts?"

"You really do," Harry grinned at his boyfriend. "Of course, you'll have to ask your dad first. Don't forget it's at Christmas. "

Kurt's face seemed to droop. "Oh, right. Yeah, I don't suppose that's going to happen then. It's the first Christmas we're going to be spending as a family, after all, so I don't think he'll go for that."

The wizard thought about this for a second. An idea had popped up in his head immediately after Kurt had said that, but he wasn't sure how to orchestrate it.

"Unless," he started after a bit, "unless they come too. Sure, I'm not going to be allowed to bring them up to the castle as well, but we could still sell it as a family vacation. Britain's nice in winter."

"Is it really?" Kurt asked, and Harry could see the wheels turning inside his head.

"No, not really," he replied, "It's bloody freezing. "

"Oh. Well, that doesn't matter. It's cold here all the time in winter as well," Kurt said. "I suppose we could sell dad on the idea, so long as he can get someone to watch the shop for him and Carole might still be able to get the necessary days off from work if we act quickly."

Then, a thought seemed to strike the countertenor suddenly and he whispered, noticing more people were starting to enter the room: "That does mean you're going to have to tell my dad you're a wizard, though, Hare."

Harry shrugged. "I had kind of figured I would have to sooner or later. Besides, I was already planning on that a bit since the trials are this Friday and they're being broadcast globally."

Kurt hummed. "Yeah, I suppose he'd better hear it from you then from the television."

"That's what I figured," the wizard replied. "Except that it's going to be on the radio. Wizards still haven't figured out how to use magic to make television sets work."

"Why was that again?" Kurt asked, still trying to wrap his head around all the information Harry ahd been given him since he had found out he was a wizard.

"The magic short circuits them. Too much conflicting power, or something like that," Harry answered. "You should really ask Hermione about that next time you see her, though. She's much better at explaining this stuff than I am."

"Will do," Kurt smiled at him before turning to face the front of the room, where Mr Schuester ( who was, miraculously, only ten minutes late this time) was calling for their attention.

* * *

><p>"I need to process this," Burt Hummel sighed, sitting down heavily on the brown leather chair next to the couch in his living room. Harry didn't blame him. It had taken him nearly an hour to convince Remus that it was a good –nay, great- idea to invite the Hudson- Hummels over for Christmas , with Kurt piping up with an <em>'oh, please?'<em> from beside him every now and then again. After Remus had given his approval and the living arrangements had been briefly sorted out, Kurt and Harry had left for Kurt's place to have dinner and spill the beans on the magic thing, so to speak.

Now, at half past eight, they had had dinner, talked about inconsequential things and when they had adjourned to the living room Kurt and Harry had asked them to sit down (though Burt had sprung up from his seat several times to pace) to say their part. They had taken it rather well, so far, Harry thought.

"Could you," Carole began quietly, before continuing on in a stronger voice: "Could you please get my son down from the ceiling now?"

"Aw, mom, no!", Finn , who was levitating close to the ceiling with Harry's wand pointed at him to keep him up in the air, cried. "This is fun! It feels like I'm flying. Dude can you _fly_?"

The last question was directed at Harry, who answered amusedly: "Yes. Granted, I need a broom, but yes. I fly."

"Awesome!", the near- giant – and though Harry had seen giants, to him Finn was like Grawp was to professor Flitwick- called down. "Can I fly on a broom too?"

_I'm not sure they make brooms big enough_, Harry thought to himself privately. Out loud, he replied: "We'll see. I'll need to do some research on that first. I'm going to let you down now, okay? Your mum looks like she's about to hurt me."

"Buzz kill," Finn pouted as he sat down next to his mother. Carole started patting his arm, seemingly wanting to make sure he was still there. After that, silence fell for a few minutes during which Burt and Carole seemed to hold a conversation with their eyes, Kurt kept shooting Harry and his dad nervous glances and Finn seemed to have a staring contest with the ceiling.

After a while, Burt –after seemingly having concluded his silent conversation with his wife- broke the silence.

"Harry," he said, "I hope you realise this comes as a bit of a shock to us."

"Oh, I do sir," the wizard replied quickly. "Came as quite the shock to me, too."

"That was rhetorical," the mechanic said slowly. Next to Harry, Kurt snorted. Brilliant help, he was. "Anyway, I wasn't done yet. Though this is a shock to us, I want you to know that we're completely fine with it. "

Harry waited a few breaths to make sure he was allowed to speak now. "That's great sir, thanks."

"I'm none too pleased about those people sending out kids to war though, mind," Carole cut in. Harry had had no choice but to tell them of his initial reason to go to Britain and he had already been able to tell Carole and Burt were not happy about that during his story. "And I'll be having a word with someone about that."

Kurt, ever so much quicker on the uptake than his boyfriend, caught on immediately.

"You'll have to go to Britain to have a word with someone about that," he said. "Does that mean we're going?"

Burt sighed, rubbing a hand over his nearly bald head.

"I guess we could," he replied. "Roger has been asking to work more hours anyway, and I'm sure Martin wouldn't mind a few extra hours, either. "

"I wasn't really planning on going in to work at Christmas, anyway," Carole put in. "I had requested the week off so that we could spend our first Christmas as a family together. Might as well do it abroad."

"Wait," Finn jumped in, finally tearing his eyes away from the ceiling, "we're actually going to England?"

Kurt grabbed Harry's hand while his father started to answer Finn's question. The auburn haired boy's eyes were bigger than usual, almost as if he couldn't believe his dad was actually about to give the okay for this.

"We'll need to see if we can afford to go first, Finn," Burt said. "Plane tickets and accommodation aren't exactly cheap, especially not if we're flying across the ocean. If we can, though, we're going."

Both Kurt and Finn seemed to sag at that, but Harry had already thought about that and asked Remus for his input on this matter.

"Actually," he began, squeezing Kurt's hand softly so that the boy looked at him with a smile starting to build on his face, "if you don't mind doing things the magic way, travel and accommodation can be completely free of charge."

"I don't mind doing things the magic way!" Finn immediately piped up, thrusting a hand up in the air for extra effect. Harry suddenly had a flash back to Hermione's classroom behaviour in their first year, but shook it off just as quickly as it had jumped on him.

"Where would we stay?" Carole asked, sending an apologetic look at her husband for interrupting whatever it was he was about to say. Burt, who had just opened his mouth to speak, shut it again to listen to the answer.

"A townhouse in London," the wizard answered. "My godfather left it to Remus and I in his will. It'll be Teddy's someday, but we're the legal owners at the moment. Granted, it's a bit gloomy, but I've got a small clean- up crew working there as we speak."

Which was not, in fact, a lie. After Kurt and Harry had talked things over with Remus, Harry had called on Kreacher to clean the house. And had apologised to Kurt profusely for not only scaring him half to death with a creature he had never before heard of and for the House Elf's rudeness. Now, Kurt only let out a brief laugh at the mention of the 'small' clean- up crew.

"Alright," Burt nodded, "I guess that would be alright. How are we getting there?"

Here, Harry winced a bit. Next to him, Kurt groaned in sudden realisation.

"Oh no," he said. Burt's eyes were immediately fixed on his son. Kurt looked at his boyfriend from the side.

"We're going by fire, aren't we?" Kurt asked of him.

"We're what?" Carole asked, a deceptively calm tone in her voice. Burt's eyes narrowed.

"Pretty much, yes," Harry answered. Kurt sighed. Burt and Carole exchanged a look of confusion. From his seat next to his mother, Finn only grinned.

"This is going to be so awesome."

* * *

><p>"Ginny," Harry hissed, his head appearing in the fireplace of the Gryffindor Common Room in Scotland. He had just gotten back from Kurt's house (after a rather detailed interrogation by the Hudson- Hummels about what all they could expect to encounter in Britain, and the magical part in particular) and was kneeling in front of –and partially <em>in<em>- the fireplace at home, waiting for Ginny to answer his call. The red head had promised to be in the Common Room four o'clock in the morning till when she had to leave for class. So far though, there was no sign of her.

"Ginny!", he then called, a hint of annoyance in his voice. Suddenly, a blurry figure sprung up from the sofa in front of the fireplace. Harry looked at her in disbelief. "Did you seriously fall asleep?"

"Of course I fell asleep," Ginny huffed indignantly, "It's half past four in the morning, what else would I be doing right now?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at her: "What happened to _"Sleep is for pussies, I can't function if I've had more than three hours of it at night!_"?", he mockingly asked.

"I do not sound like that," the youngest Weasley said. "But that doesn't matter. What did he say? What did his parents think?"

The wizard grinned.

"They're in."

Harry was pretty sure Ginny's evil cackle could be heard all the way to Ottery St. Catchpole, where he was sure Ginny's hand on the old grandfather clock had just sprung to 'up to no good'. If it wasn't permanently there already, that is.

* * *

><p><strong>Largest chapter yet! Yay! <strong>

**As always, I'm curious to know what you thought of this chapter. Please share your thoughts with me, be it via review, PM or tumblr message. Also, please take a look at the AN above if you haven't already. I would love some input on that matter. Thanks!**

**So, leave your thoughts, and I'll see you lot next time!**

**Till then!**

**-Robin.**


	22. Mrs Malfoy

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter twenty- two: Mrs Malfoy**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: I did worse. No, I did horrible. The only thing I can do is tell you all how wonderfully happy I am that I'm still getting notifications in my email of people following this story or placing a review. I'm so very thankful you haven't all abandoned me!**

**Truth is, I worked all summer. Like, all of it. 40 hours a week and I didn't go on holiday. I'm still tired and university and my internship are only adding to that. But, y'know. It's for a good cause: my wallet. For real, though. I'm saving up for studying abroad. Transatlantic abroad. I'M GOING TO AMERICA DEARIES! Well, if I've got the money and the clearance to go. So, we'll see about that. But I'm about 95% sure it's happening so…**

**Okay, enough of me talking. Here's the next instalment. Again, I'm so very sorry for the wait and I can only hope that you wonderful people will forgive me.**

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><p>On Friday morning, Harry woke up. This, in and of itself, was not unusual. What <em>was<em> unusual though, was the fact that he was not alone. As he peeled his eyes open, the wizard slowly became aware of someone else lying next to him in bed. Determined not to freak out by this, he calmly turned to whoever was lying next to him and found himself looking into a set of familiar warm brown eyes.

"Good morning, Harry," Hermione whispered, before using his awake state to her advantage and shuffling in closer so she could lay her head on his chest.

"Morning, 'Mione," Harry answered, before softly laying a hand on her head to stroke her hair. "What does Ron have to say about you sneaking into my bed when I'm all asleep and vulnerable?"

"Oh, shut up," she grinned, before continuing: "Funnily enough, he hasn't exactly seen you as a threat to our relationship since you started dating Kurt."

"I suppose it's time to prove him wrong then," Harry teased in return, only to receive a soft slap on the chest.

"Stop it, you," the curly haired witch said, before the smile slipped from her face and she buried her face deeper into his chest. "It's today."

Harry allowed his own smile to fade away, as well. "I know," he whispered.

Hermione angled her head so she could look up at him a bit. "Are you sure about this?"

"As sure as I can be," the wizard replied. "I need to do this."

"Everyone will know who you are, though," Hermione said. Harry snorted. The witch glared at him and continued: "I know you feel like everyone already does, but that's not true and you know it. The wizarding world is smaller than it has been in centuries. The muggle population has never been larger. The whole _world_ is going to know your name now. Are you sure you're ready for that?"

"I'm not," Harry responded honestly. "You know I've never liked the attention. But I can't let Mrs Malfoy go to Azkaban either. She was only in it to protect her family. She saved my life."

Hermione sighed. "I know."

"What time is it?", Harry asked, unable to see his alarm clock since his friend's hair was blocking the view.

Hermione turned her head to look at the clock.

"Half past two," she answered. "You've got another forty- five minutes to get ready, then we really have to go. The trial starts at eight o'clock, so it's out of the way as soon as possible. Kingsley still wants to go over what you're going to say, so that he won't have to look surprised in front of all the Wizengamot and I think it's better for you to already be inside of the ministry before all the press arrives."

"Probably wise," Harry agreed, ignoring her mutter of '_of course it is'_. He then continued: "I don't much fancy finding myself at Rita Skeeter's mercy again."

"Somehow, I don't think she'll be much trouble," Hermione predicted. "If heard right –and I'm sure I have- dear old Rita has been banned from writing for any sort of journalistic paper for at least the next fifty years."

"Was she now?"

Hermione hummed. "Indeed she was. I do believe someone owled the ministry about her illegal Animagus abilities. Coupled with the fact that she's obviously been stark raving mad for the last few years, it was no wonder they banned her from being able to influence the public."

"Stark raving mad, huh?" Harry asked, grinning at his friend's use of a phrase her boyfriend liked to use.

"Well, I suppose having to live in a small glass jar for over a year will do that to a person," the witch replied offhandedly. Harry wondered when he had stopped caring about trivial things such as having control over another person's life and only smiled at her, happy she made her point clear to the annoying bug.

"I suppose it would," he said, before unceremoniously shoving her out of his bed. "Now, out. I need to get dressed."

* * *

><p>"Now remember Harry," the redheaded Weasley family patriarch said, resting his hand on Harry's shoulder. "You're only there to tell your side of events, you're merely there to testify on the Malfoys' behalf. The court can't order you to do anything other than that. Do you understand?"<p>

"I understand, Mr Weasley," Harry answered, taking the time to recollect his thoughts. After getting ready for the day and having a brief breakfast with Teddy and Remus, the latter of which looking distinctly worried at Harry having to go to the ministry with the war still fresh in people's minds, Hermione had nearly thrown Harry into the burning fireplace to get to the ministry on time, Harry finding out international floo travel was even less pleasant than regular floo travel (he already dreaded having to go back in the afternoon to pick up the Hummel- Hudsons and do it all again).

They had met with Kingsley almost immediately after arriving in the ministry, where Harry and the minister had gone through a list of questions he would likely have to answer on the stand. After about an hour and a half of doing this, Kingsley had seemed pleased and had announced him ready to testify. Afterwards, Harry and Hermione had made their way down to the department for the Misuse of Magical Artefacts where they had met up with Arthur Weasley to settle in for the wait. After a while, Ron had come tumbling out of the fireplace to join them. Now though, they were all waiting in the hall outside courtroom ten, the same courtroom Harry had once had his own hearing in. Something told him the trial today would be a whole lot different from his own.

The hearing for Mrs Malfoy's case had already been going on for half an hour with the three of them (Mr Weasley had been called back to his office fifteen minutes in, something to do with tap dancing grandfather clocks in a shop in Hammersmith) when Harry turned to his best friends.

"Thank you for being here," he said to them, "You didn't have to be here."

"Of course we do," Hermione replied immediately, Ron nodding beside her. "We'll always support you."

Harry smiled at her, then looked at Ron. "I mean, I know you're not fully with me on this, so it means a lot."

"'Mione talked some sense into me," Ron shrugged, throwing a fleeting grin at his girlfriend, " and the truth is, if I had been in Malfoy's shoes, I don't know if I would have done things any differently."

Harry looked at Hermione, who was smiling proudly at Ron.

"I don't know what you're doing to him," he said, "but keep it up. He's growing up, that one."

"Oi, shut it," Ron said, but he was grinning.

Before Harry could respond or Hermione could scold the both of them for behaving improperly outside a courtroom, the door to courtroom ten opened a fraction and a young Auror (from the look of his robes) came peeking around the corner, drawing their attention.

"Mr Potter?", the man asked. Harry nodded and the man's eyes predictably slid up to the young wizard's forehead briefly. He then said: "They're almost ready for you now."

"Thank you," Harry nodded, before smiling at his friends and following the man inside. He distinctly heard his friends whisper a _'good luck_' before the door closed behind him.

* * *

><p>The courtroom hadn't changed all that much since Harry had had his own hearing there over three years ago. It was still dark and gloomy and the benches on which the Wizengamot sat still looked intimidating, and even though Harry knew he wasn't the one accused of any crimes today, he still didn't feel very comfortable entering the room. The Auror told him to wait in the shadows at the side (out of sight of anyone there, but still very much able to see what was happening in the room for himself) of the room for a bit until he was called to the stand. Then, the Auror wished him luck and bid his leave, seeming to surprise both himself and Harry when he actually <em>bowed<em> before leaving him behind. Harry watched in bemusement as the Auror seemed to scold himself as he walked off, shaking his head and with his shoulders slumped. Harry decided he'd made the right choice when he chose to go to Ohio instead of remain in the Wizarding World directly after the war, if people were going to be treating him like that.

During the short time between being led in and called on, Harry took in his surroundings. The Wizengamot seemed fewer than they had been when he himself had sat in the chair of the accused. The members looked weary and downtrodden, as if they had had more than enough of their jobs and were only there out of loyalty. Harry figured that was to be expected after having had to send so many people off to Azkaban in such a short period of time.

The members of the Wizengamot were all sat on the benches directly in front of the chair in the middle of the room. The two rows of benches on both the left and right side of the room were filled with reporters. Beneath the right layer of benches, a table with equipment was set up, a short stocky man trying to man all of it by himself. Some of the equipment looked Muggle, so Harry figured this man was the person making sure the final trials of the war were broadcast to the rest of the world.

In the middle of the room, the chair of the accused was sat. In it was Narcissa Malfoy, looking nothing like the stately woman Harry remembered her to be. Her hair no longer shined with the brilliant glance it used to have and her eyes were dimmed. Her posture, while still immaculate in her pride, was slumped ever so slightly. The heavy chains that hung limp throughout Harry's own trial were strapped tight around her body and arms. She was the visage of a proud woman who had given up somewhere along the line. Harry decided he didn't care for that look very much.

Across the room, the Wizengamot –who had been speaking amongst themselves, arguing about something Harry decided he probably didn't want to know about- straightened up, speaking to Mrs Malfoy:

"The list of offenses listed against you is very long, indeed, Mrs Malfoy," Kingsley spoke, and Harry saw her nod in a defeated manner. "As you know, most of the offenses are unforgivable and should automatically land you back in your cell in Azkaban for the foreseeable future. None of the witnesses you had listed for yourself were deemed reliable enough, being either family members or Azkaban inmates themselves."

"I'm aware of that," Mrs Malfoy replied, her voice still haughty even in her defeat. "And I'm fully willing to accept-"

"Hang on, Mrs Malfoy, I wasn't done yet," the minister interrupted her, causing her to look at him strangely. "As I said, none of _your_ witnesses were deemed reliable enough. Someone else has stepped forward, though. He was deemed reliable and willing to testify on your behalf."

Mrs Malfoy sucked in a breath. "Who would..?" she started, but then seemed to think better of it and just nodded.

"If you would?" Kingsley asked, looking right at Harry and beckoning him forward, asking him to come out of the shadows and into the spotlight. The moment Harry walked into view a gasp went through the gallery of reporters and cameramen started to frantically get their camera's ready again. The Wizengamot, for their part, had been of course given a list of character witnesses and were not as surprised. When Harry passed the chair, he heard Mrs Malfoy let out a faint 'oh my'. A short witch dressed in burgundy robes pointed Harry to where he was supposed to stand.

"Your full name, place of birth and current residence for the register, please," she said in a kind voice.

"Harry James Potter. Godric's Hollow, Wales. America," he replied, raising his eyebrow when the witch looked as if she was going to ask for a more precise place of residence. She glanced up at Kingsley, who nodded, and then dropped the question she was obviously going to ask.

"Mr Potter has been kind enough to come all the way to London for this, so let's not question him on where he's been, shall we?" Kingsley said, a threat thinly hidden in his voice. Harry stifled a smile.

"You may begin your questioning, Madame Bones," the minister said. A middle-aged witch with light brown hair stood from her chair.

"Mr Potter," she said primly, "are you aware of the offenses Mrs Malfoy has been charged with?"

"I am, Madame," Harry replied.

"Do you realise that whatever testimony you lay down today, she will not get of scot- free?"

"I do, Madame."

"Very well, then," the witch said, "I'm curious to hear what you have to say. Tell us why you're here to testify on Mrs Malfoy's behalf."

Harry was a little taken aback. Both Kingsley and Mr Weasley had predicted a lot more questions from the Head Auror (for Madame Bones had replaced Kingsley when he had taken up the mantle of minister, Harry remembered) before he could give his testimony. He didn't hesitate before speaking, though.

"Without Mrs Malfoy, I don't think we would have won the war."

The bold statement caused a whole lot of mumbling amongst the Wizengamot and nothing short of an uproar amidst the reporters. Kingsley only tossed him a smirk, non-verbally conveying that he thought it a strong opening, but doubted that he could follow through. Harry smiled back angelically, like he had seen Ginny do on numerous occasions.

"Please explain to us what you mean by that, Mr Potter," Madame Bones requested, after having calmed down both the Wizengamot and the reporters with a few stern looks.

"I'd be happy to," Harry smiled congenially. He dreaded having to talk about the night of the battle and his encounter with Voldemort in the forest, because he knew he couldn't tell them the whole truth. Getting hit with a Killing Curse and surviving once was bad enough, but twice? Besides, before he left for America he had sat down with Ron, Hermione and the portrait of Professor Dumbledore and together they had decided that both the Horcruxes and the Hallows would best remain a secret. Too bad none of them had foreseen Harry willingly testifying in a court case.

"The night of the battle of Hogwarts, I went to meet Voldemort in the forest," he started explaining, carefully choosing his words. He sighed at some shudders at Voldemort's name. "Spells flew, and at one point he thought he had killed me-"

Gasps filled the courtroom, not allowing him to finish the sentence. He could've sworn he heard someone whisper a 'poor boy', but shrugged it off.

"Right. Well, he sent Mrs Malfoy to check if he had actually killed me, which was the biggest mistake he could have made. I say this, because Mrs Malfoy is a mother. Her son was in the thick of the battle in Hogwarts and she was concerned about his safety."

He saw Madame Bones nod near invisibly, and he suddenly remembered her niece Susan having been at Hogwarts during the fighting. Glancing around, he saw more witches had a slightly sympathetic look on their faces.

"She crouched down beside me, checked my pulse and my breathing. I felt her fingers stiffen on my throat as she realised I wasn't dead. She laid her head near my face as if to better check for my breath and whispered a single word: 'Draco'."

He looked at her over his shoulder to see her lips had curled into the ghost of a smile, her eyes a bit glassy as if she was remembering the night as well.

"I tried not to move as I whispered he was safe. And he was, as far as I knew. I had seen him not too long before. She then stood up, masked the expression on her face and turned to face Voldemort. She then spoke the second word I had heard her say all night: 'Dead', and he believed her. They all did."

He laughed bitterly for a second. "Nearly threw an impromptu party, they did. Poor Hagrid was in tears. You know the events that happened next. They've been repeated ad nauseam in the Prophet and in earlier trials, I'm sure."

"While that may the case, Mr Potter," Madame Bones said, "there are still some details that are not clear to us about that night. After you seemingly leapt to live again, there was something about a snake that only very few people seem to know the significance of, and I have to admit we're curious."

"With all due respect, Madame," Harry replied, "I'm not here to talk about Nagini. I'm here to speak on the behalf of Mrs Malfoy, not a pet snake."

His reply got a few titters from the audience, but the Head Auror only nodded curtly.

"Very well, then," she said. "Is there anything you'd like to add to your statement?"

Harry pretended to think about it, then nodded. "Yes," he said. "Yes, there is. I would like to add that Mrs Malfoy acted bravely on behalf of her only son. I'm no fool, I know she didn't do it because she cared for me, or any such sentimental reason. She behaved like a proper mum should. In fact, she acted just like mine did. She did everything she could to make sure her son was safe. And I think she should be commended for that, not vilified."

With that, Harry decided to rest his case. The witch smiled a little half smile at him and said:

"Very well, Mr Potter. You may leave the stand and take a seat in the witness stands if you please."

"Thank you Madame," Harry replied with a nod and left his spot to take a seat in the bleachers.

He watched with a grin on his face as the jury seemed to fall apart in multiple fractures and sat back in his seat. He had had his say, and no matter what the verdict would be, he could walk away with a clear conscience knowing that the entire Wizarding World and large parts of the Muggle population have heard the truth.

* * *

><p><strong>As always, I'm curious to know what you thought of this chapter. Please share your thoughts with me, be it via review, PM or Tumblr message. Also, please take a look at the AN above if you haven't already. I love you guys for still being with me!<strong>

**So, leave your thoughts, and I'll see you lot next time!**

**Till then!**

**-Robin.**


	23. A Friend Like Me

**Title: Fall- back**

**Chapter twenty- three: A Friend Like Me**

**Rating: T**

**Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is. Now I'm sad.**

**AN: Yeah…so… I'm still alive. And surprisingly, so is this story. Thank you guys so much for continuing to support this story as much as you do. I know I'm an absent little –beep- on my best days, but you guys continue to rock. I'm not going to bore you with reasons as to why I take forever to upload (even though I totally got to live and work in the UK for a few months and I'm still reeling from the incredible experience), and instead I'm going to just post the chapter.**

**After this: I got a few reviews, tumblr asks and PMs (and so sorry if I haven't replied to you, just know that I love each and every review) asking about a possible Harry/Kurt/Blaine triangle. No. Not going to happen, though I have read some amazing stories with that particular love pairing. Rest assured, Blaine won't end up alone. By the end of this story he'll have someone. **_**Small contest (also a teenie tiny attempt at making up for being so lame and late) : The first person to guess correctly who Blaine will end up dating gets a oneshot about a topic of their choosing in this verse.**_

**Enjoy the chapter! :)**

* * *

><p>Later that day, Harry walked into McKinley High School, deciding he really didn't like time zones all that much. It had been nearly two o'clock when he left the Ministry, having dealt with two Malfoy trials, a rabid pack of reporters and Mrs Weasley's (who had come in to bring Mr Weasley the lunch he had forgotten to bring with him to work) fussing. When he had stepped back through the Floo and into his living room, he'd had Remus' fussing to deal with as well. He had just wanted to grab Teddy and hide upstairs with him, playing peekaboo games till the time came to return to Britain for the Yule holidays. Unfortunately, it had only been a quarter to eight when he had gotten home and he had realised that he really needed to go to school and face the inevitable fall out of the trials.<p>

He was pleasantly surprised to find Kurt waiting at his locker for him, especially since he hadn't told him he'd be coming to school today.

"I wasn't sure if you were going to show today," Kurt shrugged at Harry's amused smile.

Harry returned the shrug. "Neither was I."

"So how did it go?" the auburn haired boy asked when it seemed like his boyfriend was just going to ignore talking about what he had already done before coming to school that morning.

"It went alright," Harry answered, half-heartedly fishing though his locker for his books. "I got two convicted criminals out on probation, then blatantly refused to testify in the third and last case. That pretty much told them everything they needed to know about my views, I think."

"Probably," Kurt nodded. After a bit he added: "So, it's all dealt with then? You can leave it behind you?"

Harry winced, causing Kurt's eyebrow to rise. "Not exactly…"

* * *

><p>After explaining to his boyfriend what exactly he had meant by his words, the intercom buzzed to life. The heavily accented voice of their principal was broadcast through it, instructing every student to go to their homeroom for a special radio news broadcasting. Harry sighed, feeling Kurt's eyes on him. Having been transferred to Mr Schuester's class upon joining Glee, he started the walk to the music room with his boyfriend by his side. Time to face the music.<p>

Harry was sure that scouring Britain for Horcruxes had been easier than forcing himself not to wince as he listened to himself testify on behalf of two Malfoy's on an international radio broadcast. Before the broadcast had begun some famous American radio host he had never heard of had explained that the Muggle (A word he had difficulty saying, before going off on a speech about how that word could be described as racist. Harry was thankful his radio co-host had cut him off with a joke )world was allowed to listen to the last trials from the Second Great Wizarding War (as the wizarding papers were now calling it, conveniently leaving out every single goblin rebellion Binns had droned on about and the wars that happened before Grindelwald)to hopefully gain a better understanding of the workings of the world that had only been revealed to them a month before.

At the start of the trial the Glee club had been , for lack of a better word, utterly bored. This was understandable, seeing as the first twenty minutes of the broadcast involved Madame Bones reading out loud the names of everyone present (including all the reporters), explaining that the trial was being recorded and would be broadcast worldwide by Muggle means (her announcement that the man who was recording was in fact a muggle who had been working on the technology since he'd found out his granddaughter was a witch got a few titters from the press) and briefly going into the history of the Wizengamot for the sake of the Muggles. It wasn't until she started going into the list of offences Mrs Malfoy had been charged with that the Glee club seemed to come to live.

"That doesn't sound plausible," Rachel sniffed, her face scrunched up as Madame Bones accused Mrs Malfoy of at least five counts of the Imperius curse, followed by the crimes the victims of the curse had committed. Some of the club seemed to share her incredulity, while some looked fearful at the thought of such a spell existing. As the list of charges went on, the group's eyes slowly became wider. Harry noticed Kurt looking at him, the look in his eyes saying he thought his boyfriend might have made a mistake testifying in the case. Harry just sent him a reassuring smile back. Funnily enough, Kurt didn't seem all that reassured as he continued listening to the broadcast.

"_Mrs Malfoy, do you understand these charges as they've been read to you?",_ Madame Bones' voice sounded through the room.

"_I do, Madame,"_ the posh, but slightly defeated sounding, voice of the accused answered after a few seconds.

The sound of shuffling papers could be heard through the radio and Harry imagined it to be Madame Bones putting the scroll of charges away so she could start the next part of the trial. _"Very well,"_ she said, her voice not betraying what she thought about the woman sitting in chains across from her. "_And how do you plead?_"

Harry saw several members of the glee club leaning forwards in their chairs, captivated by the proceedings they were hearing. He noticed that while Puck and Sam seemed to just be transfixed by hearing an actual trial, Quinn and Mercedes had a disapproving look in their eyes. Harry remembered that look from when the Wizarding World had come out of the cauldron (a joke that had unfortunately caught on in the papers, Harry loved how it made Remus cringe every time he read it). He feared that they might not be as okay with magic as they'd been pretending. He was so caught up in wondering about this that he almost missed Mrs Malfoy's voice answering _"Guilty."._

The wizard's eyebrows shot up to his hairline, not having known about this. He had just assumed that she'd pled not guilty. From the corner of his eyes he saw Rachel rear back in her chair, not having expected it either, and Quinn and Mercedes raise a questioning eyebrow at each other. Finn let out a low "wow".

The Wizengamot, obviously not having expected the honest answer either, tried to silence the muttering of the press before going into hushed conversations themselves. Harry winced internally at how unprofessional this made them seem, before scolding himself for thinking too much like Hermione.

"_The list of offenses listed against you is very long, indeed, Mrs Malfoy,"_ Kinglsey's strong voice sounded after a while, the commenter telling the Muggles listening who exactly he was to the Wizarding world under his breath. With a start, Harry realised that he had heard these words before and that this meant that he had entered the courtroom already by that point. He braced himself for what was coming next, feeling inexplicably nervous all of a sudden.

"_As you know, most of the offenses are unforgivable and should automatically land you back in your cell in Azkaban for the foreseeable future. None of the witnesses you had listed for yourself were deemed reliable enough, being either family members or Azkaban inmates themselves,"_ Kingsley's voice carried on. The commentator explained to the audience that Azkaban was the Wizard prison, which seemed to help some of the glee club members, judging from the understanding looks on their faces. Kurt, seemingly guessing why Harry didn't look all that comfortable softly grasped his hand and sent him a reassuring smile, not very unlike the one Harry himself had sent him not that long ago. The wizard grinned back, pretending to be just fine. His boyfriend didn't seem to buy it.

"_I'm aware of that, and I'm fully willing to accept-",_ Mrs Malfoy's voice reverberated through the room, before being cut off by Kingsley's authoritive voice: _"Hang on, Mrs Malfoy, I wasn't done yet. As I said, none of your witnesses were deemed reliable enough. Someone else has stepped forward, though. He was deemed reliable and willing to testify on your behalf."_

This last comment caused noises of outrage and contempt to spout out of the glee club members. Some seemed to think it unfair that a woman like Mrs Malfoy would get a chance to be defended, while others immediately made the new witness out to be a bad guy himself. There were only very few faces of doubt amongst the club. Harry subconsciously squeezed the hand that held his and felt inexplicable relief when Kurt immediately squeezed back.

"Well," Rachel started after the broadcast finished, always the first to break the silence: "That was… interesting."

"That's one word for it," Puck commented, his eyes fixed on Harry. To be fair, his were not the only ones. Most of the glee club had immediately recognised the wizard's voice when it came from the radio. Lauren's eyes had twinkled in a manner Harry never again wanted to see on her.

"'Unbelievable' is the word I'd use!", Tina exclaimed, causing Harry to look at her wide-eyed. He wasn't used to her being that vocal. "You got two criminals out of prison, Harry, how could you?"

Just as he was about to answer, Sam cut through him. "I think the more important question is how long Harry here has been riding broomsticks and brewing potions without us knowing."

His statement was met by a mumbled chorus of 'yeahs'. Harry shrugged, having decided during the broadcast that he'd try to answer any question he got as truthfully as possible.

"I've been flying since I was eleven. The same with brewing potions. To be fair though, I'm absolutely rubbish at brewing. Always kept wrecking the cauldrons."

Next to him, Kurt snorted, taking in the unbelieving stares aimed at his boyfriend. "I don't think he meant it that literally, Hare."

Harry just shrugged. "They asked," he muttered, failing to hide his grin when Kurt squeezed the hand he still held in a silent reprimand.

Quinn squinted at their joined hands for a second, and then burst out, seemingly unable to keep quiet for any longer: "And you're alright with this, Kurt?! Witchcraft, really?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" the auburn haired boy asked haughtily, an eyebrow raised for effect. Harry felt a role reversal between them as the boy next to him seemed to shrink a little and he squeezed his hand in a reassuring manner. Having had to listen to his aunt's mutterings during the summer months he had spent slaving away in the Dursleys' garden, he had a vague idea what the reportedly religious girl was on about.

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," he said softly, before Quinn had a chance to reply to Kurt. Ignoring his boyfriend's sharp inhale of breath and the scattered exclamations of surprise around them, he continued: "Personally, I've never been much of a Bible- fan. I find most of it redundant and outdated, filled with fear of the unknown and a brilliant excuse for bigoted hatred."

Seeing Quinn's face (and Mercedes' too, but to a lesser extent) redden, he added: "Like I said, though: That's my opinion. You're completely entitled to yours. I just hope that you find it in you somewhere to learn to cope with a world of witchcraft in the same way you have learned to accept homosexuality."

"That's different," Mercedes sputtered, seemingly feeling the need to defend her religion. "We know you and Kurt can't help being gay. We get that it's something you were born with."

Next to him, Kurt stiffened a bit at having been brought in to this. Sensing his boyfriend's need to interfere on his behalf, Harry gave him a look that had him back off, feeling the need to defend himself even though he was secretly rather happy he had someone willing to do that for him.

"So is being magical," he said at last, silently thanking Hermione for the biology lessons she had forced on him. "I imagine there'll be a lot of information available about this in the future, but being able to do magic is something you're born with as well. A recessive gene in some families, and a dominant one in others, magic is something that's passed down through generations. I never chose to be a wizard."

"You could stop being one thought," Quinn insisted. "It's not like you have to continue to use magic."

Harry sighed. "Actually, I do. When magic is repressed, a wizard or witch becomes a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any given moment. It's absolutely vital for a magic user to be trained in using their magic properly, to prevent chaos and possible destruction."

Several emotions flickered across the pretty blonde's face as something in her seemed to snap before she grabbed her jacket and bag and practically ran from the room. All of a sudden, everyone's eyes (and Harry was silently grateful for the Glee club's uncharacteristic silence) were on Mercedes, who nodded slowly.

"She'll come around," she responded to the club's silent question. "She's had a few too many faith shaking shocks in the last few years, I think. Give her time."

"What about you?" Kurt asked after a beat or two, squeezing his boyfriend's hand for all it was worth. It was actually starting to stop the circulation in Harry's veins a bit, but he didn't mention it, knowing his boyfriend needed to be assured that his best friend wouldn't suddenly start to hate the guy he was going out with.

Mercedes let out a short laugh. "Not going to lie, boo. This was kind of a shock."

Around them, several of the other Glee kids let out agreeing snorts.

"But….?", Kurt persisted.

Mercedes shrugged. "But he's your man. I can dig that."

All of a sudden the blood flow in Harry's hand started up again as Kurt released him and flung himself at his best friend. The wizard rubbed his abused limb, his eyes on the rest of the Glee club, who were all starting to smile as well. They started to laugh and joke around a bit until finally Puck's voice cut through the fray:

"Okay, hold up! Wait a minute. I just thought of something."

Everyone did just that, waiting for whatever revelation had suddenly appeared in the jock's head. Mr Schuester, who had wisely (or cowardly, depending on how one views his teaching methods) chosen to stay out of the discussion, lifted his head from the pile of papers he had been nervously shuffling into order, knowing that no good could ever come from that tone of voice from his most troublesome student.

"Dude," Puck continued, glancing around the room with a smirk on his face, "do you guys know what this means?"

At the blank looks and more than one uninterested shrug his question garnered, he elaborated: "We can totally kick some ass now with magic behind us! Those slushy carrying dweebs won't know what hit them!"

An uncomfortable feeling came over Harry at those words and the speculative glint in some of the club members' eyes. The feeling got worse when Rachel continued this train of thought:

"Never mind the jocks," she enthused, " focus on Regionals! All of the amazing set ideas we can now actually use! This is great!"

Kurt must have seen the panic enter Harry's eyes, because the next moment he was right back where he started, holding his boyfriend's hand while said boyfriend was trying his best not to give his opinion on their thoughts in the most scathing manner he could think off. The wizard shot the boy a grateful look.

"Dancing in the air!" Mike suggested, grinning brilliantly.

"Outfits that change colours every few seconds!"

"Unicorns for back-up dancers!"

"Don't be silly, Britt, unicorns don't exist. I can get behind those outfits though…"

"Pranking the competition during their performance!"

"A never ending supply of chocolate in the dressing rooms…"

"Samba dancing pigs!"

"A twenty feet wide, self- playing piano!"

"Flying the school bus to the venue, imagine that for a second?"

"Oh my, do you think that's even possible? Harry? What do you think?"

All of a sudden, all eyes were on the wizard again. Mike and Tina shrank back at the blank look on his face, and the worried frown on Kurt's.

Harry took a deep breath, slowly untangling his fingers from Kurt's. "I think," he started softly, "that you need to have more faith in your own capabilities instead of searching for novelties. You don't need any of that. Nor can I give it to you."

"I thought you were a wizard, though?" Rachel replied immediately, completely oblivious to the tight set of the wizard's jaw. Some of the others seemed to realise that they had overstepped in some way, but she continues: "Surely you can pull that off."

Standing from his chair, the British boy made his way to the front of the room to stand next to their silent teacher .

"I'm not saying I'm not capable of what the lot of you just mentioned," he admitted, causing a smug grin to appear on the diva's face. "What I'm saying is, that I won't do them."

"Why not?" she sputtered, "surely you can see this will give us an edge, something to set us apart from the rest of the competitors!"

"I see that," he replied, noticing how the rest of the club seemed to be averting their eyes, suddenly not wanting to be associated with that train of thinking anymore, as if suddenly realising how wrong they were to suggest they do the things they mentioned.

"And that's exactly why I won't do any of that," he continued. "It would be unfair, not to mention illegal. There are laws in the wizarding world prohibiting exactly this sort of behaviour."

"Oh." She seemed to deflate.

"Not to mention how morally reprehensible it would be," Mr Schuester cut in. It was the first time he'd spoken since the broadcast had finished and everyone turned surprised eyes on him, as if having forgotten that he was still there. "We don't need an advantage like magic to win a competition. We're above sabotaging others to get to where we need to be. I can't believe this would even occur to you. I would be like cheating."

Guilty looks met his words, and to Harry's surprise most of them muttered an apology his way. He nodded at them, shooting a relieved look at Kurt, who winked at him.

"Can we at least see some magic?" Sam asked suddenly, his eyes big and pleading. "Cause that would be really cool."

"Ooh, do me again!" Finn eagerly near-shouted, waving his hand in the air. His proclamation caused several of them to snort, Santana to mutter a 'Wanky', and Kurt to smother a grin. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you know what I mean," Finn grumbled. "Please?"

"Actually," Mr Schuester cut in before any of the other Glee club members could start asking for a magical version of show and tell, "I was kind of hoping Harry would finally give us his assignment for the week we did 'Magic' and he hoped we wouldn't notice he didn't sing anything."

"Which we totally noticed, by the way," Rachel said, already seeming to have forgotten her earlier words and feeling safe enough to urge the wizard to do some singing. "That doesn't mean we wouldn't like to see some magic after though."

Kurt threw a reassuring smile his boyfriend's way before suggesting softly: "Or maybe he could combine the two."

Harry grinned. "I like the way you think, love."

The countertenor pretended to blush while simultaneously giving himself an actual shoulder pat. Mercedes and Tina giggled.

"Get to it then, magic boy!" Lauren commented, still grinning the shit- eating grin she had had plastered on her face since the broadcast ended. "Show us what you've got."

Harry smirked, before flicking his wrist to let his wand slide down from its holster and into his hand. Brittany gasped. "As you wish, my lady."

With a muttered spell and a few flicks of the holly wand, the instruments the band members were sitting next to suddenly floated in the air, to great consternation of the musicians. They turned wide eyes on the wizard, only to find him suddenly wearing a ridiculous, purple parody of a butler's uniform. With another flick of the boys wrist, the instruments started playing themselves.

"_Master!",_ Harry gasped in a completely over the top manner, causing Artie to nearly choke, "_I don't think you quite realize what you've got here! So why don't you just ruminate, while I illuminate the possibilities!_"

Kurt and Mercedes, both immediately realising what Harry was up to started giggling uncontrollably, while Brittany clapped her hands with an excited grin on her face. Meanwhile, Harry continued:

"_Well, Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherazade had a thousand tales. But master you're in luck, 'cause up your sleeves you've got a brand of magic never fails_." Grinning, the wizard took a seat on the piano stool, making it float as well. The next words he sung clearly mocked the earlier discussion:

"_You've got some power in your corner now! Some heavy ammunition in your camp! You got some punch, pizzaz, yahoo and how. See, all you gotta do is rub that lamp, and I'll say…"_

The British boy suddenly jumped off the stool and took a seat between Puck and Rachel, addressing them with his next words: "_Mr. Aladdin, sir, what will your pleasure be? Let me take your order, jot it down? You ain't never had friend like me. Life is your restaurant and I'm your maitre'd. Come on whisper what it is you want; You ain't never had friend like me!"_

Seeing the two of them look properly chastised, he transformed his butler outfit into a mechanics outfit, though still keeping the purple colour, and moved to sit next to Brittany and Santana. "_Yes sir, we pride ourselves on service. You're the boss, the king, the shah _(Santana preened a little as these words were directed at her). _Say what you wish; it's yours, true dish. How 'bout a little more baklava?"_

Flicking his wand to make a bowl of sweets appear on Brittany's lap in lieu of the baklava, Harry sauntered two rows over, to plunk down between Sam and Finn.

"_Have some of column A, try All of column B, I'm in the mood to help you, dude. You ain't never had friend like me."_

With a cheeky grin and a bit of concentration Harry channeled some of his eagerly twitching magic (and really, he should probably let off some magical steam more often with the way his magic seemed to jump at the chance to do what he wanted and do it better than he usually would) to temporarily clone himself four times, before joining the Harry doubles in what could only be described as a rather clumsy looking Can-Can.

"_Oh my. No no. My my my." _ Starting to feel a bit of strain, he released the magic on the doubles and felt them collapse back into his magic.

"_Can your friends do this?", _he rhetorically sang as his outfit once more changed, this time into a dark purple tux, complete with top hat. He then cheekily transformed the chair Kurt was sitting on into a comfortable armchair. "_Can your friends do that?"_

He then took off the top hat, reached in and pulled out a very surprised looking bunny. "_Can your friends pull this out their little hat?_"

"_Can your friends go poof_?" At the 'poof', Harry disapparated on the spot, still holding the bunny and reappeared on a chair in the empty back row. "_Well looky here_."

"_Can your friends go abracadabra, let her rip, and then make the sucker disappear_?" With these words, Harry made the bunny disappear back to the hat he had pulled it from, its ears popping up over the brim. The wizard grinned, then started making his way back to the front as well. "_So don't just sit there slack-jawed, buggy-eyed, I'm here to answer all your mid-day prayers. You've got me bona fide certified; You've got a genie for charge d'affaires."_

Hopping over the first row of chairs, Harry flicked his wand again to make Finn's chair hover in the air. The boy let out a shout of joy. "_I've got a powerful urge to help you out, so what you wish, I really wanna know? You've got a list that's three miles long, no doubt, well all you've gotta do is rub like so, and oh _-"

A wicked grin stretched across the wizard's face as he flicked his wand in rapid succession, hitting each Glee club member aside from Finn with a spell. "_Mr. Aladdin, sir, have a wish or two or three. I'm on the job you big nabob! You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend. You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend. You ain't never had a friend like me_."

Softly putting the instruments back on the ground, he glanced around at the 'damage' he'd done. Mercedes' outfit had changed into a sequins laden dress. Lauren was following a pair of tango dancing guinea pig with her eyes while next to her Puck looked surprised at his deflated upper arms, poking his reduced muscles in despair. Brittany was happily chasing after some fake fairies while Santana looked on fondly whilst admiring the way her nails changed colour every few seconds. Rachel was sporting a rather brilliant afro while Tina was checking out the way Mike's spontaneously sprouted moustache was insulting the beard that had grown on her own face. Sam's chair had risen to join Finn's and they were racing each other around the room while Kurt's armchair was currently massaging his shoulders. With a grin, the wizard finished his song.

"_You ain't never had a friend like me_."

* * *

><p>Clumsily opening his locker while juggling a pile of books at the end of the day, Harry was stopped from making a complete fool of himself by Kurt suddenly appearing next to him and taking the books from him.<p>

"Huh, thanks, love," he grinned, before opening the locker quickly and taking the books back before unceremoniously dumping them all inside.

"No problem," Kurt shrugged, before casually looping his arms through the Brit's when said boy closed his locker again and they started moving towards the parking lot. "So, how has the rest of your day been?"

"Not too bad," Harry replied after thinking it over for a bit, " I mean, the classes that didn't have you in it to calm me down a bit were rather nerve wracking, but considering the fact that I kept a low profile since arriving here I wasn't disturbed by people much. I don't think anyone aside from the Glee club recognised my voice coming from the radio."

Kurt, having blushed a bit at the implication that he had the power to soothe his boyfriend's worries, squeezed his arm a little bit. "That's good news, right? You still get to have a bit of that quiet life you wanted."

"For now….", Harry replied pessimistically. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Just take what's given to you, Hare. We both know it won't last very long."

"I suppose you're right," Harry started his sentence, before turning them around at hearing his name called behind them. Spotting Sam running towards them with a mad grin on his face, the wizard raised an eyebrow. "What's going on, Sam?"

"Settle something for me and Artie, will you?" the blonde said when he caught up to them. Harry shrugged his assent. "Time travel; fact or fiction?"

Harry grinned. "Fact."

"Really?" Sam's eyes were big and he looked as if all his dreams had just come true. "Awesome! Thanks dude!"

Staring after Sam's quickly retreating form, Harry snorted. "Well, one thing's for sure. I don't think there'll be a dull moment left in my school career here."

Kurt let out a brief chuckle. "The fact that you considered McKinley boring before all this concerns me. Hare."

"Well, if I ever did, I sure won't after break," the wizard sighed, his thoughts on the hell he was going to face after coming back from Christmas holidays. A large part of him was thankful that the Glee kids had forgotten to ask about _that part_ of the broadcast amidst all the excitement from his song.

"Let's cross that bridge when we get there, shall we?" Kurt said, pulling Harry's arm a bit to bring him closer to him. "How about we get some coffee somewhere first, before we return home to pack for the holidays?"

"Will there be biscuits?" Harry asked, feeling the need for a sugary snack.

"If by biscuits you mean cookies, sure. We can get some cookies," the countertenor smiled.

"Lead the way, then."

* * *

><p><strong>So, this took forever-and-a-half to finish. And of course when I want to upload the site is down... But I say the wait was kind of worth it. <strong>

**Please leave your thoughts, and I'll see you lot next time!**

**Till then!**

**-Robin.**


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